The Viking that stole my land and then my heart
by lightninglaura
Summary: Vikings Edward, Emmett and Jasper think they've struck luck when they capture three maidens from the nearby kingdom of Crom. But they soon realise the troubles that come with beauty. An energetic pixie who always is trying to escape and a shy, feisty brunette who seems to be hiding a secrets that may affect the Viking prince's camp. Dark secreats are revealed and love blossoms.
1. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE.

The only noise was the loud thumping of my hear against my chest. The quiet shuffling off my feet and the sniffles that I tried -but failed- to mute also filled the tense silence. Lamps lit up the halls and the smooth marble floors were freshly polished and gleaming with a shine that burnt my eyes. The overpowering scent of Lavender and rose coaxed my mind into missing the soft, sweet scents of the flowers that naturally grew in the forests near his home. Near Cullenzis.

I teetered near the grand marble door, slowly breathing in and out at a more rapid pace. I felt my breath slowly run out and the familiar burn fill my cheeks before I sprinted down the hall and towards my chamber. Laurent was sat outside as usual. His entire frame a mess of wrinkled clothing, an overgrown beard, and a retched musk of rum and ale.

_Welcome Home, Bella. _

My mind sang as my heart sank. The familiar golden and white aesthetics calming my body as I fumbled with the door latch, closing it successfully.

"Well, Well, Well." A hissing voice called out spitefully. "Look who decided to grace us with a visit." The sunken, dilute eyes incinerated my very will power and the small dark, crescent patches beneath his ablaze eyes had dropped down terribly. His once rugged features had taken a twist to being haggard and dishevelled. It was as if he was lost, gone a shallow case of his once great stature. His only legacy to be left should only be that of his downfall and his deterring pride and his lost trust from his people.

I clamped my lips together and basked in my own silence. I would not ruin my confidence by stuttering openly to a man I loathed and despised. A fresh breeze floated silence in from a nearby window and a soft mellow song could be hear playing from the ball room several rooms over. My fathers laugh sending a single chill down my spin before a mask of indifference and -what I hoped to be- ferocity overcame my features.

"Silence really is golden, Isn't it, Isabella?" He spat as he rose out of the single chair that adorned my room. A wooden pipe sliding smoothly between his lips as he breathed in the ghastly substance. He breathed out and yet again polluted the room's air with it before sucking in another mouthful. "Where have you been gallivanting off to? Firstly, I send a wave of my finest men to search for you on that scum bag island," I dug my fingers into my palm and force away my white hot anger until it was nothing more than a mere singe to my mind. "Somehow they came home empty handed and down by seven." He turned his steely glare to my own eyes.

"The injured claimed a local woman, clothed In a barbarians clothes injured and killed most of them. One of the best fighters they had ever seen." He breathed out again and ran his fingers over the spines of my many books. "How did you get home, Isabella?" He mused and placed his hand on his hip. His fingers swirling over something gently before he clasped it.

"Do you-"He began.

I cut him off. "No more talking, Dear Father. " I hushed him. "I think it is time that we talked without words." I pulled out my new sword, revelling in the marks that aligned the silver. I gazed at the barbaric symbols that looped over my own. The crests of families new and old filling me with strength and courage. My newfound family. My newfound home. All of the things, people, memories I loved and cherished filled me with a rage that made me want to fight for everything I had built.

"You think you can beat me?" He sneered. "Do you know that I taught you all you know?" A small vicious smile crossed his lips. I gulped down the salty tears that threatened to appear and stepped forward.

Today the sun was shining and the sky was clear. The roses outside had bloomed fully and successfully despite the harsh heat and the droughts. The servants had smiled and the soft music from the ballroom placed an aura of happiness and peace throughout the castle.

It was the perfect day.

Today, Charles Swan -My father- would die.


	2. Chapter 2

It was a lively day in the castle. Maids scampered about with fine china plates and dusters. The servants hummed a merry tune as they wiped down the floors and polished the silver. It was the kind of day that filled the pit of your stomach with flutters and left your lungs sighing breathlessly every couple of seconds. It was the kind of day that was so filled with beauty and majesty that you knew it just had to be good.

The sun had just rose over the mountains of Mjara and nestled in between the Kran and Lian mountains. It was when the sun fitted perfectly between these two mountains that I awoke. Small slivers of light rested on my face and glimmered beneath my eyelashes before I sat up in a precautionary stance . Today would be the same as every day. I would get up to be bathed by my favourite maid Mary-Alice. I would walk along the castle gardens and touch the roses that were blooming or sniff at the lilies that delicately unfolded in the sun's heat. I would read a book and get lost in the pages until my father called me for training. It would be the same as every day.

I lowered my feet to the cool tile and sat on the chair. I was biding my time 'til Alice had reared her head. Alice had been my closest accompanist since I was twelve. Her mother was the dubbed lunatic of Crom and her father an estranged man of immediate wealth. He had left Mrs. Brandon for a young bride. I amused myself for a short while before boredom took over. I longed to escape these four walls. Walls smothered In a bland white paint and small golden leaves crawling across the walls. A bed with a canopy and covers made from the fluffiest cotton and freshly spun silk laid on the bed. Stacks of books haphazardly thrown into a disarray among my bookshelves that lined the walls and the soft, supple pillows that were strewn over the single chair. The room was elegant and beautiful but it was the same. It was dull, boring, an imprint of a picture I had seen to many times. Each crack and crevice burnt into my mind.

I had grown up here. My Mother and Father reined over Crom and the people loved them. We hadn't a had a worry about possible assassinations or thief's. Everyone had respect for the Royal Family. Today was nine summers and thirteen days since the lord's birth. My eighteen summer had dawned on me and casted a shadow. Family ties had threaded down to a mere string and my body had grown weary with pain and anguish. My father treated me as he would a slave and forced me into training. My fast hand skills had flourished perfectly within the arts of sword fighting. My speed and agility were supposed to be seen as a gift but my haggard demented father had twisted it into a curse. My father branding me his fighter.

He took away my life. Banished me to the castle. That was three summers ago. Today was the day of my independence and I was going to soak up every glorious day until I reached my twentieth summer. It was then that I had to stake a claim to the throne.

I was not an only child. Heavens no. I had a smaller sister Jane. Although nothing about her was small expect her tiny frame. Her heart was large and filled with spite and hatred. Her hair rolled down her back in golden clusters. The way each lock was twisted like that of an evil snake. Jane's room was filled with gems and rubies that cost more than the entire east wing. Renee –my mother- had lavished Jane in gifts, gems and any item that sparkled in the light. Jane had several suitors lined up for her hand whilst I was proclaimed a social pariah.

My nightgown softly flittered as I scrambled to the small closet. I clasped in my hand a simple blue dress before turning to open the door. The halls were just as magnificent of my room but they hold no real importance to myself or my everyday life. The halls are used for walking and nothing else. I moved rapidly. Stopping when I heard footsteps mirroring my own. I slipped into a small space. Squeezing myself behind a tall statue I clenched in my legs and stilled my breath.

"What do you plan to do with her, Charles?" Renée's voice hashed out. Her tone slightly sharp and as equally impatient.

"I have no idea what to do with the girl, Renee." Charles huffed out impatiently. "They're becoming too strong. She influences her to deeply." He sighed again. "I will not have that little whore affecting our daughter!" He thundered but silenced himself when Renee told him to quieten.

"Charles! You will not use that terrible word whilst I am still wearing my cross!"

"I couldn't care for you or your damn cross, woman!" My father huffed. "I will not have that little servant girl, Mary affecting our daughter."

"She is nothing more than a slave, Char. What evidence do you have to support your heinous claim? As a matter of fact, What claim?"

"Many of the guards have seen Isabella wandering out of her room with the maid. Isabella is getting tardy, moody, and her attitude does not bode well with me. We have to terminate the services of whomever her name is." The rest of the conversation blurred as they steered towards my father's work space. Renee's bickering and clicking of her shoes echoing down the halls.

Mary Alice was harmless. She had a fierce temper and it would not be wise to take a bet against her or try to raise a coin when she has told you that you will lose. Alice did not influence me in any way other than fashion. My 'tardiness' was out of my own reluctance to meet him and his cold, harsh demeanour. My moods were the result of his extensive pushing, barricading and smothering of my soul and freedom. I should have told him all of these things but I couldn't bring myself to.

In the end I knew I was scared of my father. I was scared of the man that was supposed to hug me, kiss me gently on the forehead and rub the scuffs that scattered my legs when I fell from my horse. He was not suppose to kick me when I was so far down or stare down his nose at me.

That night I climbed into my bed. Alice had not turned up and the cold night had settled in. My eye lashes brushed my cheeks as they dropped down It was supposed to be a relaxing time. It was supposed to be a time of 'winding down.' Sleep was my only freedom in these walls. The only place that my father couldn't control me or my body. The place where my will and imagination was indestructible.

Then, just as I was settling down, the familiar raps on the door sounded.


	3. Chapter 3

The grass swirled effortlessly around my finger. The cold air swaying the flowers and the grass as my bare back laid against them. IT was an average day. The sky was at first glance was a deathly black. The soulless sky as blank and dark as the dreams that swirled before my eyes when I shut them tightly. Facing ahead there was nothing. A blank view of the dark sky that was usually clustered with stars. The light lapping of the sea against the shore was a sound that filled the small meadow and set a serene aura. If you moved to the side you would see the giant castle of Crom. The tall sloped and glass was a lovely image but it obscured the view of the setting sun. Crom the castle was beautiful but the narrow minded, stubborn, disgusting people inside were not. There was nothing to see if you turned to the other side but a small island called Naromad. A place long abandoned by its ancestors.

If you had seen the sun rise and set and you let your mind fool you into thinking it was the most beautiful sight in and on the earth, you're a fool. I turned my back. As if the fine God Thor had been waiting for me a sudden array of Colours burst through the black sky. The inky black replaced with colours that were vibrant and lively. Each ripple sparkling through the sky and dancing with a majesty and perfection that was unknown to a mere man like me. The swirls collided with the skies like a spirit running free and they danced in a sort of limbo for control. The dark skies peace rattled by the lights that drew attention to it. The colours that it couldn't help but love to wait for and chase until they left.

If my brothers heard me talking in such a manner I would surely be ridiculed. I couldn't help it. I couldn't help but observe beauty. I swiped the mud from my back and rose to my feet. After a short time the sun started to rise, the lights dimmed and I knew it was time to see my mother. A thing that I had only recently despised. My mother had raised me. Given me the air in my mouth, the words on my lips and the colours in my eyes but she also gave me the darkness in this life. She gave me the crown that would be placed on my head. The burden on my chest. The sorrow in my heart that forced my body to stiffen and harden under the scrutiny of my peers. She forced me from the warm shelter of my childhood and pushed me abruptly into adult hood.

My mother was a woman scorned, hurt and changed. My father's 'disappearance' taking a strain on her body. Her heart racked with pain. I knew it. I felt the ache in my chest as much as she did. I was weary. My father had disappeared when I was ten winters younger than now. 8 winters old. He never came back from his boat that day. We feared he was taken by the Kraken and swallowed whole in her depths. But he was alive. I knew it. Thor would not fail me. He would keep a powerful king such as my father alive.

I had two brothers. Emmett and Jasper. We were nothing more than acquaintances. Occasionally we gathered out of a mutual respect for our mother. Hunts, raids and ventures were occasion but happened none the less. We understood each other. The trees thinned out as I came to the side of an all to familiar dirt path. Cullenzis was a small island sectioned into three parts. The majority of the dry land was owned by respective family members. The leaders of this land were the Denali's. They had no power over my family. The colder land was owned by Aro Volturi and his clan members he called a 'Guard.' He was, in all seriousness, the town lunatic. His inventions and creations costing us almost a life every seven rises of the sun.

The forest land was our own. My mother's house confined safely within its deepest depths. A clustered village was several trees away. I breathed in the scent of the trees and calmed my body. I had become accustomed to doing such a ritual thing before I stepped foot in my mother's chambers. I made my body numb. I made my heart beat and not hold any emotion but the stony facade it had already perfected. I felt emotions for Esme but nothing more than a deep burning hatred I held for her. Was it disrespectful to speak ill of your mother? Yes, it was. But my past was like walking on a narrow piece of wood or bending down in an enclosed corner to avoid being hit by a sharp sword.

Tedious. Tiring. Draining.

Almost to quickly I was standing outside of her chamber doors. Two strong slats of wood that was engraved with the family crest and emblem. The lion roaring down as his face resembled my inner emotions. My hand paused over the small knob of wood that acted as a mechanism to push and pull open the large frame. I took a deep breath and prepared to place my foot within the room.

My eye strained as I heard the loud crack that echoed in the room. My ear pressed firmly against the door. The people of Cullenzis may be scared of me, but I was nothing more than a withering boy under my mother's scorn.

That was how I felt about fighting and scared people. I hated doing it but the monster within me loved every cry and plead from the enemy. He loved every drop of blood that spilled at his feet and lavished the banquets set before him and his monster-brothers as he downed the beer and watched his brother, Jasper flirt. Emmett had been 'tied down' for a while. His wife Rosalie was originally brought in for his Bed thrall but they quickly escalated to something more.

I shuddered when I thought of 'tying' myself down at such a young 'age'. My body had a spirit that didn't need to be caged by a worthless woman seeking only my money and crown. I had no desire or need for a bed thrall. I was completely immersed in my work.

"Mrs. Cullen." Angela the maids accent cried out. "Look at what you have done! I will never get this blood out of these covers!"

"Is that my problem?" My mother's sharp tone called out. Even her voice begged for love. Love that I was not willing to give.

"No Mrs. Cullen."

"Good. Leave!" It was very rare that we ever spoke in our own language. The majority of the people had been taken from Crom or Naromad when it was full.

"Mother," Jaspers voice coerced. " I will get you Carlisle Masen. I will bring him to you. If he refuses I'll beat his blood from his body and make him thirst for it. I will not fail."

"I know you won't. Or we'll see how you're body looks hanging from the tree. "She stopped. Her tone softening. "If you don't I will die."

The hot blood in my body ran cold. It seemed to chill me until I couldn't help but give in to the shiver. A cold splatter rolled its way down my face before my body couldn't rein in the emotions anymore. I would not let my mother die. I owed her a life for giving me mine.

Carlisle Masen would be my debt repaid.

It was keeping him alive from Jasper's wrath that would be the problem.


	4. Chapter 4

The raping continued before the door swung open. It was not open for long before someone slammed it back. Pattering of feet rapidly commencing towards me. I opened my eyes grudgingly. The dark night bathing my room in blackness. The bare flicker of a candle illuminated the small face. Her green eyes were sharp and alarmed. Her hair had been cut jaggedly and ended at the base of her chin. He bottom lip wobbled. This was Alice. A girl two years my senior yet she couldn't look more frail.

"Alice?" My voice was hoarse. The candle light flickered and I could see tracks of tears running down her cheeks and onto her folded hands. Her down casted eyes and mumbled sobs as heartbreaking as a young hungry child. "Have you fallen ill?" I smoothed her hair down. A gesture I had picked up from a maid that comforted me once.

"No Isabella. I-I" She stumbled before her eyes let out a fresh stream of tears. "It's your father." She wailed. My heart broke for her. My father was a harsh cruel man. Hs whole facade of being the dotting, loving father was only on the rare occasion we left the walls. Or when we were around his 'sweetheart' Jane. "He terminated my position!" her sobs echoed the room. Her puffy eyes narrowing and her fists balling up. "I shall have no income! My brother and mother shall surely starve! Even then I shalln't get a position anywhere when they hear I was casted of by 'sweet King Charles.'" She scoffed and curled up. My heart breaking for her small trembling frame. My father was viewed as a loving and dotting father by the kingdom. A harsh, gruesome fighter but his army and a perfect king to everyone. But to myself an Alice? He was scum. He was the small black spot on the polished white floor or the stain that you couldn't get out.

"Shh, Alice. It'll all work out! I promise."

"What can you promise? What can you promise, Bella?" Her short, clipped words harsh and full of intent. "Can you secure me a place in this palace?" Alice shook her head at the question. Drying her tears she carried on. "Can you be sure that my brother will not starve? That my mother will not go into an endless depression? No. You cannot. You have a life full of wealth here. You needn't be asking for clothes, working for your pay. No, you just sit here. You read to your heart's content and your body is always rested." She turned to her hands and fiddled them awkwardly.

"Do you have these horrid circles around your eyes?" She pushed her fingers into the black circles. "Or bruises that cover your arms? Do you have scuffed knees and calloused fingers? Do you work to the bone from the early morning rise 'til the late night call?" She implored. "No. You do not."

"I have to go. I have to leave. I just can't stay here. My family is ridiculed enough without me adding to the shame!" Her lips pressed into a fine line and her eyes stopped their watering. A determined spark lining them. She stared at me expectantly. Her demeanour hostile and expectant. It was as if she was waiting for a solution from me. As if she was waiting for something –anything that would help her. But I couldn't supply anything. I couldn't stand up to my father. Inside I was a scared little girl.

I brought my fingers up and ran it over the cross that dangled from a small golden chain. The darkness seemed more prominent now. Like it was all there was. You could make nothing out of the darkness but the small candle that Alice held. The hope the candle represented. The small light that always burnt out but was lit again and again. This was Alice. The light at the end of a dark tunnel. The friend in a dark world.

I had nothing here in Crom. Nothing but a crown that I would be forced into wearing. It was not the future I wanted. I wanted to live life. To run without any invisible restraints and see the sun from outside. But I had Alice. She was –would be- my redemption. She always was my freedom and now she was giving me a chance of pursing my dreams.

"Alice go to my draws and take out my most valuable stones." She nodded mutely and scrambled in the darkness. Several scuffs and seconds later, she returned with a large blue sapphire stone, a burgundy red ruby and several chains of gold. They were beautiful but held no comparison to the value or beauty to my friendship with Alice. It was an easy sacrifice.

I ran my finger tips over the smooth surface of the sapphire stone. Revelling in the feel of its coolness and the memories that flooded its royal hue. The deep dark swirls of blue and intricate sweeps of black toning the colour as it glinted in the bare light. A spectrum of colourful reflections dancing up my bare arm.

"It is beautiful." I swooned. "Isn't it Alice?" Her adamant nods filing the silence. "It is yours'" I placed it in her bare hand. She mimicked my earlier moved and gazed fondly at the colours that underlined the basic blue.

"I cannot expect this Madame! What will they think! It is a beauty but it is yours! How can I accept such a rich gift!"

I smiled as softly. "You can't but you will. Sell it to the market. It will bring a handsome price. Give the money to your mother, Alice. Give her a life!" After refusing profusely I quietened her. Her worries still lay with her employment and reputation. She knew her life her would be nothing more than rubble and shambles. "You will sell the others and bring me the funds for those. Pack a small light sack, Alice and meet me here tomorrow at midnight when the sun has barely lifted over the mountains. We will ride deep into the forest."

"Where will we go?" She mused although I could see questions, plans and images form in her mind. The excitement and fear sparing off her small frame.

"I know a place." I smiled before she left out of the tall doors. It was a place I hadn't visited since three winters past. A place nestled so deeply in the woods the only thing that gazed at its was the river that flowed directly down. It was small, barely fitting in a single bed chamber, bath and lounge. Of course it's rare beauty and exquisite details compensated for its small size.

I let my arms relax and rest on the soft bed. I stretched my legs out before tucking them in. The candle flickered out and let out a small hiss before letting the room fall into a mask of darkness. Slowly sleep claimed me as her own and another darkness took over. But this darkness was welcomed. This darkness was peaceful. This darkness was sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**RE VIEWS EQUAL TEASERS. **

We didn't mind the cold. It was the only sensation that kept us from believing our wild escapade was a dream. Thorns snagged on our clothes, leaves snuggled beneath our hair and dirt forced its way under our nails. We were becoming natives of the forest, in a way. Our dishevelled appearances leading away from our true nature. No-one would see us out here anyway. We had nothing to fear and no-one to potentially miss. It was the essence of peace.

"Where are we going, Bella?" Alice whispered. She was carrying the bundles and packages as we worked through the thick forest. Trees overgrew the small path that used to guide me. Alice and I left in the night. Stealing away into the darkness with the large glow from the translucent moon to guide us. Alice brought along a few of her own items. Small items that we could carry for a long distance was all we allowed.

"Into the forest," I pushed aside a large branch. It would be a long walk. I could feel the longing to see the house I hadn't visited for a long while. "There is a small place there that shall house us for a short while." She nodded slowly. She was apprehensive about coming into the forest this late at night. Her ever growing fear of wolves, bears and other creatures growing high on her conscience. Alice's eyes darted around suspiciously. Her free hand clasping around her small golden chain. She was presumably praying.

"What will become of us now?" She asked but I could not find it in my heart to answer. I had no idea of what the future held for us. She could go into another village or kingdom and live a new life. But I, Isabella Swan, would never have that kind of freedom. I could never start anew anywhere. I would just float aimlessly in this desolate life and hope that my God, my Lord, would find my life worthy of saving. The trees thicken out as we continued on our path. We could sometimes hear the soft call of a bird and the rustling of a leaf but it did nothing to stop us.

"Do you even know where we are headed?" Alice questioned. "Are we even heading anywhere?"

I evened my rapid breaths. We were getting close. Those unquestionable bonds you feel in your body are exactly what they are. You feel a bond so strong and filled with love towards your mother that you dare not question it. But, to me, I felt a bond so strong and laced with love that my body respond when it was near or close. I felt this towards a home. Idiotic? Certainly. Would I be named a lunatic if anyone knew that I love a home much more than my own father? Yes. But it was more than a home. It was a safe house. A place that I could go to escape my future. Where I could be a little girl that made mud pies with her best friend.

"Yes."

"To which question?" Alice mumbled as she pulled her bags along.

"All of them." I could not see why my father wanted me to learn to battle for him. I was a woman after all. He always pushed Jane to marry. To line up suitors for her picky nature and expensive tastes. But for me? Nothing. He locked me away like a child in a fable. I didn't care. Marriage was not something I wanted in my future. I did not want to be a slave to some man. To have him leer at me and obscenely gesture and thundered if I did not comply to his rules. I was just a woman. The only rights I had was the right to marry and listen to my husband! What else could I do but comply to a nature already set out years before me? Who was I to question higher people? Could I speak ill of the dead who cursed women as the weaker nature?

But for some completely obscured reason my father trained me to fight. Instead of passing me to my mother to groom me and prepare me in a manner that would be dubbed as 'Proper' he forced me to fight, to revel in the sweat and blood that poured out of me. To fight for what I wanted. But, I could never fight hard enough. I was never given a reason to fight, after all.

After another hundred yards, I could see a lightening in the trees ahead, a glow that was a faint yellow instead of the thick, dense green and striking black. I quickened my pace. I needed to see the small home. I was close to a running pace now. But the desperation to see the only place that held any redemption was pulsing against me. The pulse on my mind throbbing erratically as I reached the end of the tree line.

There it was. Basked in the strange glow of the rising sun. It was the same as I remembered. The twisted ivy that climbed up the wooden sides. The small windows that barely let in light but complemented it's enclosed space. The clinging moss that stuck to the roof and captured the dew drops that sparkled when the sun rose. The painful throbbing in my head stopped and was replaced by a soothing hum of satisfaction.

We settled in. Alice snuggled in the worn out covers that adorned the make shift bed. The stagnant odour of damp clouded the room like a spirit that could not be banished.

"Bella?" Alice whispered. Her voice had grown stronger as we left. There was no candle night as the sun was already high. There was nothing to do but sleep. Just sleep.

"Yes, Alice?"

She hesitated, "What will become of us now?" I thought momentarily. What would become of us? Only God knew the answer to that absurdly rhetorical question. And I was no god. So, true to the bible, I told her no lies and let my lips speak the only truth I knew.

"I cannot fathom a becoming of us Alice." I paused. "I can only see what is in front of me. Right know we go on as we are."

"Drifting?" She inquired. "Doing nothing but biding our time?"

"It was your idea to leave, Alice! Do not blame me for God not dealing you a good hand today."

"I apologise. Hopefully the sun will rise in our favour tomorrow."

"Yes," I smiled. "Hopefully." The sun did rise for us in the morning. The pink colours touched the sky and ignited a ripple of colour throughout the night sky. The ablaze of the sun washed away the stars as it's glow out shone the others. Today would be a good day, I long ago decided. But today I would shed the name Isabella Swan. I would emerge from the swan and re-incarnate myself as a bird of power and master a facade. I would still be Bella, But I would be Bella Brandon. I would be myself in the name of another.

_God, give me strength. _


	6. Chapter 6

**REVIEWS MAKE PEOPLE READ! PLEASE REVIEW...EVEN IF IT IS JUST A SMILEY OR A RANDOM LETTER!**

We left at nightfall. The sticks of fire echoing a light over the dark wrinkly sea. We had left our treasures in a pit under our homes. Trusted men guarding our most sacred plunders. There, in that small pit, we left our hearts. We left them locked up. Then, when we were sure they were safe, we emerged out of the pit. We did not come out with names or emotions that would leave us scared. No, we came out warriors. Emotionless men with one goal; The goal to complete our given quest. We would not come back with any sadness or guilt of our actions. We would not come back with anything but our bodies. Hopefully not in the back of a ship, discarded.

The ship was a beauty. From the oak keel to the wood cross-beams. She was a beast in the water. Jasper had reluctantly let me aboard the ship. Emmett was to my side, the long oar sweeping the water in his hands. Emmett was well built. Muscles bulging out of every surface. He looked very much like father did. Black hair with a tint of jaspers colour, tall and rugged, and confidence that seeped from him. Mother couldn't stand to look at him. She had left him to be raised by another maid, Chelsea.

Jasper sat at the head. His hands buried deep in his hair as he was lost in thought. His fingers brushing over the woods as an imaginary map appeared before his tranquil eyes. He was favoured by mother. Raised by her as the eldest. The hair that coloured neither hers nor his. The eyes so rare that it could hold nothing to remind her of his. Scars ripped up his arms and down his chest. His battle scars that severed my mother remembrance of what a good Chief he would be. If only he could marry a wife who would deal with his dominating, possessive nature.

I was hated -by myself that is. I was an almost identical copy of my mother. Her nature was lost on me but her looks not. Her unique shade of... colour had stained itself in my own hair. The eyes greener than the forest held itself in my own and, when I looked at her, I had to look away. The eyes that were a window to her nature. I was taller than the rest. Muscles did not bulge out of my skin nor did they disappear like a child under it. But, like all things, they were there. Defined, threatening and able to wield a mighty sword.

"Where are we headed, Master?" Alec called from behind Emmett. A young slave that held a reminder to us all.

"To Crom. The Queen requests a man -medicine man- that is."

"It is of none of your business, Alec." I called. Emerging from the shadow. He down casted his eyes and nodded. I was not his 'friend' here. I had left that at home. I was his master. "To which entrance, Jasper?" He glanced at me. The deep rings under his eyes making his cold stare more prominent.

"We will not go from the beach beside the castle as originally planned." Jaspers fingers drew a ring on the wood. "We will go from behind. I believe there is a thick forest there. If we pass through it, undetected that is, we should come out near the village." He cupped his chin in his hands. His fingers running over the fine hair that stood there. The starry skies stealing his gaze.

"The plan of action after that?" Emmett's gruff voice asked.

"We will split. Emmett, Alec and Garrett will circle to the side. Edward," He addressed me. "You, Jacob and James will take the other side as I and Samuel will take the same position we land in. Then we circle them in. Pen them till they give him up." Collective nods followed.

"What if the king," Garrett spat, "Is there with his vile men and is repulsive wife?"

Stepping forward Jacob said, "He won't be. His little girl has gone missing. She's ran off they say. With a hand Maid. He'll be too busy looking for her." I nodded. The girl had ran. I would not blame her. Running from her father would be the best choice of her life. But, if she was as beautiful as the word of mouth said, then she would hope to stay hidden.

"But why would she run from a life of luxury?" Samuel mused.

"Nobody knows. Good fighter though. Nice price above her pr-"

"Enough!" Jasper called. "It is nearing in late! If we wish to be in good health in the morning we will settle in now! Don the ship! Keep her in place! Sleep as hard as you can for in the morrow we take what is rightfully the queens!" He raised a rum drink and brought it to his lips. In silent assurance, we lifted up our own drinks. The night growing quiet as we sat in contemplation. The plan would go off without any trouble. And, if any of us were lucky, we would come back with a slave or gold to trade.

As the men dropped off to sleep, so did Emmett. The only light in the dark was the bright orbs of Jaspers eyes. The small lines dotted around his eyes only made his stare deeper and darker. The clinching of his jaw making his whole face darken. He was older than I, but so much younger than Emmett.

"Why are you looking like that, dear brother?" I questioned. Placing my drink on the side.

"I muse, brother." He sipped his drink. His stare turning upwards to the sky. The flickering stars reflecting in his glazed eyes. "For I look at my life and see nothing but blood and the insides of slain men. What else do I have beyond these scars? What else do I have beyond these memories? I have no wife to come home to, no child to give my sword or pass my stories. I have nothing. No-one."

"That is Jaspers worry, Brother. You are not Jasper today. Today you are a warrior. A man that is feared by his scars. A man that does not fear for the future but lives in the moment."

The usual talk did nothing to cheer him. His sorrowful eyes meeting my briefly before returning to the stars. "I am a man. An old one at that. Soon I shall lose my hair and my ability to fight. I will become nothing more than a speck of dust on the family wall. I will be lonely for my life. Craving the affection mother splashes so lavishly upon me." He stood to his full height, adjusting his sword as he did so. "I have brought my heart with me today. I am in dire need of a wife. So, I will find one. I would suggest you look brother. For when you have seen so many sunrises as I have and as many sunsets, you will feel the loneliness seep through you heart and leek into your soul. For behind every great man -including father- there is a woman that bears his burdens with him." Jasper moved around the sleeping men. Taking his place under his furs and skins.

"Do you need that, brother?" I asked, settling myself in. "A woman to bear your burdens?"

He sighed. "We all do, dear brother. Even you. You may think a wife is not for you, nor is marriage, but one day -as I have- you will see the error in your ways." He turned to hid his face in the furs. His body shook slightly with what I presumed to be sobs. "Sleep, brother. For in the morning I capture myself a wife."

I had always presumed Jasper to be the emotionally detached one among us. The way he could so brutally slay a woman after he bedded her. He was always scared they would tarnish his name. Or when he so mercilessly killed any unknown man that came within ten feet of his home. I could see that he was preparing. Leaving behind no anomalies that would come back to haunt him later. He was sending a message to any one that came close to his home so it would be safe for his future family. Jasper was the smartest of us all. Taking it into consideration I closed my eyes. Feeling the sleep take over and my mind rest. Finally the blanket of sleep overcame me.

_"No, Jasper. It's left to right, not right to left!" Mother huffed. "Are you trying to kill me?" Jasper grinned. His small face crinkling into a smile. _

_"Yes." He flashed his teeth._

_"Well you're not going to with that kind of fighting!" I knew this was a dream. Mother wasn't as free spirited any more. She had grown heartless, cold and disgusting. I was ashamed to call her mother back then. "Edward, " She snapped. Her eyes aflame. "Come here!" I obeyed, dragging my short sword with me. "Flick your wrist, Edward." I turned the sword from left to right. Using my wrist to flex back and forth. My mother gritted her teeth together. "See! If he," She jabbed a finger at my chest, "can do it, why can't you? Are you a stupid, ignorant little boy?" She sneered at me. _

_"No, mother." Jasper retorted. _

_"Good. Now, do it properly boy! Edward, go find something to do! Work with the maids if you have to! Lord knows it's the only thing you'll ever be good at." I huffed. Walking away into the lecherous shadows. I watched for what seemed like a summer as my mother played and taught Jasper. I watched her every weakness and his every weakness. I learnt their strengths all the while storing the information away for a much later date. _

_It was then that I could feel the stab of pain twist into my heart. The slow venomous jealousy seeping through my soul like blood onto ground. I wanted my brother, Jasper, dead. I wanted her dead. But before I could achieve that goal, I owed her a life. Here Is where the good doctor enters. _

"Are you certain this is the way, Brother?" The forest was evident all around us. The trees that rose high and challenged the God's with its height. The soft mud below our feet that held evidence of last night's rain. Crom was a strange, strange place indeed.

"Yes, I am. If it be not the right way then so be it! They say your body takes you to your wish. If it be a mine full of gold or a lovely maiden bathing in the sea." Emmett boomed in his nature. Chelsea had done well raising him.

"Its slightly strange," Jacob, one of the youngest whispered. He had been on Culenzis almost as long as I. His once knobbly, skinny arms transformed into ones of such might muscles that they could challenge Emmett's. He brushed his dark hair over his forehead. A sheen sheet of sweat overcoming all of our bodies.

"What is? That we are the exact opposites here?" James sneered. His dark golden hair brushing against his shoulders. A grease like substance smothering his shoulder.

"What are you implying, James? That we are dirty whilst they are clean? That they are civilised whilst we are not? Or that we are better and they are cowards?" Sam called.

"No, you came up those options. I simply say that when the sun is shining here we can be sure of rain in Culenzis. Then, when the rain is clouding the skies here, the sun bellows down upon us." He shrugged his shoulders.

A soft sigh escaped Jacob. "No, I believe I have been here before. In this same neck of the woods. That I might have made small mud resemblances out of the ground with a friend and that I knew this as my home." He sighed. Jacob had been taken from somewhere at such a young age. "I must be wrong."

We continued on in silence for a while. Pushing the brambles and thorns from our faces. The sounds of blood dripping down our chests would be heard as the jagged thorns tore through them. Jasper had advanced ahead. Occasionally we would tip a drink down our throats to cure the ache. But eventually we stopped.

"This is our way." Jasper pointed to the side of Paul.

"Why the sudden change?"

"There are tracks in the mud, prints that surely must have been made by a foot."

"And why should we follow?" Jasper levelled every man with a glare before he stomped off. His inconsistent ramblings emptying into the silent air. The tracks were not made by a man's foot, but by a woman's foot... but by two women's feet. It didn't take long for Jacob to force his way in front. He seemed to know the area like he knew his sword. He didn't hesitate to cut down short hills or leap across small puddles and trickles of streams.

"When we get to whatever it is, I want you to capture and bring any and all," he glared at James. "To me. Me alone. No touching inappropriately," Another glare to James. "No rude gestures," a glance at Paul, "And nothing - I mean nothing - to obscure her view of me. If you do?" He tipped a brow. "Then I will chop you up, piece by piece, and by the might hand of Thor I will burn you until nothing but charred bones remain. Am I clear?" Numerous nods and agreements echoed. "Good. Emmett?" The brute nodded.

"Edward, Jasper and Paul take the entry way. Clear everything and everyone before turning into anywhere. We don't need to lose anyone. I, Alec and James will take the back and Sam?" He nodded, "You an Jake keep guard. Don't let anyone in and no son of a bastard out." Jacob stopped. Shuffling his feet on the edge of a small clearing. In the middle of a damp and muddy field was what resembled a small shack. The rotted wood and the twisted plants deemed the once home nothing more than a home for animals.

Emmett nodded toward us, "Go." So we went. Our feet barely hitting the ground as we moved silently across the damp earth. Fresh aromas of pine and air breezing past us as we crouched in front of the wooden door. The only sound was that of the clanging of swords as they were unsheathed.

Then, with beads of sweat rolling down our backs, we moved in. Immediately you could see the dust rise up in the air. The once calm atmosphere disturbed by our appearance. The rooms were exact replicas of each other; Dusty floors, dull walls and blankets that covered all surfaces. The next room was dark. Nothing more than shadows and empty sheets. But then I could see it. The small figure huddled in the corner of a room. The small, frail arms and the dark circles under the clouded blue eyes. She shook like a leaf in the wind. Her fear rolling off her in waves. My brother locked with her gaze and I knew that her life had already washed away. She was his now. I let the sadness ripple through the well placed charade of a warrior as he dragged her away. Even though she was taken from the shadows of the room, she would be placed in another dark shadow. She would be in the shadow of my egotistical brother. She would forever be engraved in my mind. The girl in the shadows.

Jasper handed her to Jacob. His eyes narrowing in warning as he bounded her to Jacob's arm. "She will go home with me." Jasper Snarled. "You," He pulled the girls face upwards. She was very small. Inky black hair chopping viciously around her face. Her hair cut was rare and emphasised her own azure eyes. "are mine. You fight? I'll kill you. You run? I'll kill you. If you scream and warn -No, try to warn- anyone I will kill you. Do I make myself clear?" The girl nodded vigorously. "Good. What do they call you, girl?"

"Alice." She whispered. Her voice filled with nerves. "Alice Brandon, Handmaid." Jasper nodded and we moved along. The shack was empty aside from the girl. The girl that played with the strap on her small bag.

"Men, positions ! If my calculation and the memory of prisoners serves correct we have little ground to cover. We head into the village-"

"No!" Alice shrieked. Her hand balled and her face flushed as red as the chest of a man in the sun. After she had noticed the words left her lips, her eyes budged and her lips formed into a thin, tight line.

"Shut your mouth, Woman." Jaspers hand collided with her face. A red mark marring her face. "Move out." I eyed the girl suspiciously. Her body tense and rigid. She was hiding something, or more importantly, someone. Jasper had found his wife. For that I was thankful. To say I wasn't piqued by what had the girl so... protective would be a lie. We trudged on. The forest blurring together. Jasper was right; we hit the edge of the village forest edge moments later.

It was a village alright. Full of scamming, thieving merchants who stole then sold. The higher people boating with their money and tossing only little scraps to the poor children that lined their feet. We nodded at each other before setting into our positions.

It was like this for several moments. Us slowly moving in. Trickling our way in, foot by foot. Eventually we had come to a close. The gasps and cries of the village folk echoed. Their pleas of freedom doing nothing to our hard exterior. Jasper had taken care of the plans thoroughly. He was on the hunt for Carlisle Masen. The man I had to keep safe -for mother.

I was about to turn and leave. To ask -no, beg- my brother to let me return to the ship and prepare her. So when he returned we could leave. But then, I saw her. Her feet slowly moving backwards into the forest. Her delectable, outstanding body sauntering away before her back hit against the hard chest of Sam. Her dark, black cloak falling from her head. I breathed in deeply, the air wheezing out of my lungs. She was more beautiful than any flower, more stunning than the glint of a golden coin. Her hair woven so beautifully with colours so bright and shiny that it fell beyond the curve of her breasts. The burnt amber eyes that begged to be stared at; that begged to see into her soul. She was perfect. With the right curves, right body and most definitely, the right face to complete.

"Emmett," A growl rumbled out of my chest as I saw Garrets hands on her. The venom shooting through my blood and inducing me with its jealous drug. I locked onto his gaze, pointed at the dazzling, alluring body and growled, "Mine," Silence followed. You could hear nothing but the gentle sway of the wind. It was as if everything had frozen. As if the Gods had named this a destiny changing event and had it slowed so that every detail could imprint on my mind. But I wanted her. I could see the men drinking in her porcelain skin and her aura of beauty.

The once beautiful item in my life, the sun, held nothing but a mere candle in comparison to her flawless, description less beauty.

She was _mine_.


	7. Chapter 7

**_I really want to hit the 40+ review mark, If I do? I'll update a longer chapter when i get 40. _**

**_Thank you so much to my BETA,_****_ twilightfanjm._**

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"Be safe." She whispered. I strained to hear her but her message was clear. The town wasn't too far. Barely a short walk compared to most lengthy strolls. But, we needed supplies. Draping a large hood over my head I moved forward. If I kept my steady pace I would reach the town before sunset. It had been a lonesome couple of days. Alice grieving the loss of her family from her life, my reluctant tears at the loss of my Mother and the aura of sadness that had wormed its way into Alice's spirit. The happy, bouncy, pixie-like friend I once had was been replaced with a dull mono-tone copy of herself.

The world had been tipped upside down. Instead of the warmth of my bed and the fillings that filled my stomach, I had cold and an empty pit of a stomach that growled at the mere thought of anything warm. I knew it was going to be hard. But I always assumed I would be strong enough. That I would be like the great warrior princess's my mother read to me about. The princess's that could fight so brilliantly she won every time. That her hunger would be quenched by providing food for others. But, those were mythological things and not like the true world.

I was not a mythical creature in a fantasy world.

The shadows of the forest forever encircled me. They would not leave. When I was young I could stare out of the windows and watch the shadows of the forest taunt me. Their every blackened depths staring back at me. The black sweeping through my mind like a shadow of doubt. The fear that I would never have gotten to explore them. But now? They laughed at me again. Their laughs the calls of birds as they flew from the limbs of the trees. They laughed for me thinking that I could walk through them. That I could survive in a place that even their mighty selves decayed and died.

When I made it the town I moved to the food immediately. Allowing myself to gorge on the morsels that I bought with greed. The coins I had left from the castle disappearing as I bought items we would need and stuffed them into my small sack. I had always enjoyed the market. The smells of the breads and meats that skewered and cooked while I fiddled beside my mother. Singing occasionally for the women that gathered to touch my hair and stroke my golden threaded clothes.

I bumped into many shoulders. Keeping my head down so I wasn't noticed.

"Two, please." I asked to the woman behind the length of wood. She was aged but beautiful. Golden tinted grey locks and sharp beautiful features. Lines run deep throughout her face but they seemingly enhanced her beauty.

"Not from around ere, are ya?" She asked. She had obviously been around the market people for a long time. She had since forget the proper pronunciation- or she just didn't care. .

"No," I eyed her warily. "You?"

She cackled, "Born and raised ere. Why's it any interest to you?" I shook my head and the cloak swayed. "I was ere when they announced the new king," She grimaced. Her lips pulling into a tight, disgusted smile.

"What do you think of him?" I asked placing my items into the bag.

"It's hard, ya see. I was his maid for a while. Tailored everything for him,"

"Then?" I implored. She turned her wistful look into a glare. Her eyes getting colder until her face was frozen with anger. "Then nothin', alright! Nothin' happen to nobody."

"I'm sorry, I-" she cut me off.

"Go scamper back to where you came from! Don't come ere again!"

"I didn't mean to offend you, ma'am. But I-" I stopped. The woman was fearful now. Her eyes budging out of their place and a swift dropping of her jaw confirmed my suspicions. I backed away from her whispering a "Sorry," as my back bumped into someone. I could feel something against my skin. The electric feeling that spread up my arms and across my body. That left the visible hairs standing straight and at alert. For a moment I thought my cloak had fallen from my head, but I was mistaken. For once, I wasn't the main source of entertainment. The tension and silence were thick. Nothing moved and it was as if everything was as frozen as the waters in winter.

I raised my eyes under the cloak. Gazing at the newest throng of bodies that has entered the field. There were new people. Not the type of people that walked in and were just new. But the people that walked in and were from different places. The tall, rugged men that had rippling muscles for example. They were large. I faintly recognised a man. His short cropped black hair and russet skin evoked a long lost emotion in my body before my glance continued on. Another man with scars that jaggedly cut up his arms barked at the other men who ceased others. I felt arms wrap around my shoulders and lock my body up. Bile threatening to show weakness as it lodged up my throat.

I wanted the filthy barbarians hands off me. A loud growl sounded in the small enclosure.

"Mine," I looked to the cause of the voice. For a brute, he was handsome. His sharp chiselled jaw carved its way to high cheek bones, Pink, bow like lips rested near a slight sprinkling of hair and the depths of dark Jade eyes bore into me. His hair was a disarray of a strange metal my father once had. The light tones of brown and gold showing under the sun light. He growled and I found that his body vibrated with it pleasurably. The rippling of muscles and the slight hue of his body rushing a desire throughout my own.

But then, I remembered what he was -no, who he was, and the fear seeped in. I had left my sword with Alice and -at that moment- I had never feared more for my life. He was a barbarian -otherwise known as a savage, a man with multiple women enslaved to him. A murderer. And he was staring right at me.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Imma be cheeky and ask for 50 reviews. Hehe. Thankyou all, though. You made me smile._**

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**_Dedicated to: Teratome. Made me laugh so much._**

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She was silent.

Like a scared child, or a woman gone mad. She had withdrawn herself into her mind. She did not weep of cry like most as they dragged her onto the ship. She did not whimper with fear or cry out as they tore the cloak from her and sat her next to jaspers mate. She did not even give us a look of disgust or distaste as we surrounded her and the other soon to be slaves. She just sat there, her face showing nothing but indifference. Even in her non descript status she was still beautiful. The other men on the ship knew not to leer at her in such disgusting manners; She was mine. Yet I could not have her. No, not yet. But when she was mine -and she would be- no other man would gaze upon her. No person would touch her unless they wished for their hands to be ripped away from their body and their dissembled parts to be gorged by wild predators.

Jaspers mate fiddled in her ties. So different to the girl beside her. Alice seemed to be deciding whether to tempt fate and throw herself over board or wait silent for an opportunity that would never arise. The ship was bobbling gently against the water's surface. The shores of Crom becoming nothing but a point on the horizon. As the journey grew on men fell into sleeps, the Slaves tipped their heads and scorned at their bad fortune, but the girl? She remained silent. The moon casting it's eerie glow on her silhouette.

"Jasper?" I questioned to my brother. His eyes narrowing on his self proclaimed 'mate.' "When can I have her? Mark her as my own?"

He looked almost regretful before his cool mask covered his face. "You cannot have her."

I cursed, "Why is that?" he dashed around his eyes. "Did you not just claim a woman for yourself?"

"is is the rules Edward," he sighed. "She will be sold with the rest of the group."

My eyes widened. "What about her?" I jerked my hand at a sleeping Alice.

"I was allowed her."

"Does this rule not apply to me?" I could feel the anger rise. The red feed its way through my vision.

"No, it does not."

"Why is that, dear brother? Are we not of an equal status?"

"No, brother we are not." He sighed. "Mother let me." He casted a glance at a huddled man. I hadn't noticed him. His back was hunched and thin, bony fingers interlaced their way into his hair. He looked gaunt and pale. As if his shoulders held a heavy burden.

"Anything for Jasper, right? You can't stop me from having her Jasper! Even if you did -which you won't- who would buy her? Who would buy the woman Edward Cullen wants? Who would dare?"

"If I can't stop you, who can?"

I thought briefly. "Mother or a chief." The words leaving my tongue bitterly. Esme could dictate my future. And a man of her choosing could even decide to put me to death.

Jasper Smirked. A light tilting of his lips. "Then I guess I can stop you." Jake shouted for Jasper. "A good chief, needs a good wife, right?"

I watched his retreating form. _Chief_? Was all of the early topics lies just to cover up his reasons? Did he even want a wife? Or was it all for a charade that would fit the given topic? Even if he married Alice his thralls would not stop warming his bed. It was typical of a Viking man to have many thralls cover his bedside. Their most desired parts on display. But I guess I was like my father. When he met my mother -the earlier, happy shadow of my mother- he dismissed his thralls. He kept her and only her for himself. He rebelled and entered marriage for love. Now I knew he was a fool. Or at least fooling everybody else.

He married for a so called 'Love' that my mother wasn't even capable of feeling. My hand clenched at her name. It was no surprise that she would announce Jasper has chief. He had always been favoured.

"Edward!" Jacob called. His forehead was heavy with sweat and his eyes dim and down casted. "She's goin' down." I immediately glanced at the girl. She was fine, so what was going down?

"What is?" I said snappishly.

" The ship, Edward. She's donned a sinker on 'er side." He nodded at Jasper who was clearing the area. I could see the jets of water flooding the planks. Little glints of it slivering through the ship and adding extra weight. "We need to dock 'er, Chief says."

"Where?"

"You tell me, Edward. Chief said to ask you."

"Isn't Denali close by? If I am correct, which I am, this lake leads to the edge of Denali. Shouldn't we dock there, Jacob?" He nodded and left. His lips moving fast as he explained the news to the 'Chief.' Many of the men rejected me here. My all to 'Crom-Like' language making me a social outcast. My father was of the same language form. He was still the greatest warrior we had ever seen. Until, of course, his brutal capture and eminent murder.

The man from earlier was free. His hands rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm his skin. _Weak man. _Before long he moved around. Dealing with a young slave that had wounded herself by falling on the hard surface of the ship. I assumed this man was the great Carlisle Masen. The man my mother wanted.

"We will dock at Denali. Maybe the sisters will be welcoming to us, Edward." James leered. I merely nodded. "Nice batch of slaves we got. Think they'll make much in the market?"

"Possibly. Not if Caius sells them. He takes all the coins and sometimes takes the most beautiful slave for himself." I contained a sneer.

"So would I, if it's no charge, wouldn't you Edward?" I nodded again. Tightly closing my lips to refrain from causing a fight. "There's a nice one." He leered again. This time at the beautiful girl.

"She is mine." I growled out. "There will be no sale of her. No leering of her by other men. She. Is. Mine." The roars escaped and James shook. His tipped head leading him as far away from myself and the girl as possible. I knew I was entering dangerous territory with this... _Slave_. Detaching myself from her as soon as possible would help the problem. Strong emotions did not bode well on Culenzis. They were either tarnished by their sins or burnt by a death.

She would go up for Sale. I needed to gain myself back. Her presence for one sunset already toying with my ideas for a clear future. I hate the idea of marriage. Not being able to fight freely because of a mind clouded constantly with her face. To not go days without hunting and collecting. Marriage was having someone be dependent and rely on you for their whole life. To have a wife was to give in to everybody idea. I wanted different. This beautiful women would be no different. She would be dull, lifeless and as focused on pleasuring herself as my brothers.

I turned away from her. Containing the sneer I wanted to throw at myself. I busied myself with the arranging of the slaves. Jacob and James covering the large gash in the side. Jasper steering the ship to the small land of Denali.

The freely restrained man from earlier passed me. His clammy hand brushing against my own. I grasped his arm, stopping him from walking any further.

"What do they call you, Man?"

He looked at me before casting away his gaze. He must've seen the small lion-like mark engraved on my arm. It was either that or the deep gashes that aligned my one arm. "Carlisle Masen." He nodded along with his word as if he was appraising his mouth for choosing the right dialect.

"Move along." He nodded again and moved. The slaves passed by and sat in their assigned positions. None tried to fight against the 'unclean brutes they assumed we were.' I tried to ignore the growing pangs in my body. The instinct of an over-looming darkness that would fall. Stupidity becomes me.

"Edward!" Emmett boomed. "Jasper says we need to-" He was cut off by an ominous splash. Ripples forming on the surface of the already wrinkled sea. Someone had dared to throw their self over board.

I glanced at the slaves. Each one in the same place I had ordered them to. All but one.

The girl. Her hands and legs were tied. She couldn't possibly survive with her arms and legs tied. She would surely die in the bottomless pit of the sea.

"A slave has dared to throw herself overboard, Captain!" Jacob barked from nearby. His own eyebrows furrowed as he looked over the sea.

"What are you standing there for, Jacob?" Jaspers voice rang with authority. "Go get her! We can't afford to be losing any more slaves!" Jacob jumped deep into the water. His body lost in the dark waters. I turned. If I was to distance myself from her, I'd to it properly. If she died so be it. That's what I told myself. Yet my body wouldn't listen. It remained with the rest of the ship, gazing into the waters to see what emerged.

Time passed before we saw Jacobs hand clutched the side of the ship. His large arms pulling him and the girl upwards. Small droplets trickled off his skin as he propped himself up. Surprisingly, the girls hands were untied. The rope no longer tied on her hands. Jasper strode over to her.

"Who do you think you are? Jumping over the side of my ship!"

It was an awkward lull of silence before she spoke. "I don't 'think," She snarled. Shocking the men aboard the ship. Even I was shocked. "I know. My name is Bella, and I didn't jump. I was god-dammed pushed!"

Jasper raised his hand to her. Forcing blood out of her mouth as his hand made a crackling contact with her face.

"Shut your mouth, Woman. Do you not know who I am?"

"Of course I do. Jasper Cullen," she struggled against the hands holding her back.. In her eyes, a sorrowful glint appeared. The look I had seen in my own face in the reflection of the sea. She wanted to be punished. "Bastard Child, brute and killer of thousands. Who doesn't?" he hit her again. This time a sore red mark staining her face. Blood trickling away from the wound. Next time he would draw his sword.

"I admire your bravery, Bella." He sneered. "But if you don't learn to close that ghastly mouth of yours, you won't be sold," He grinned, "But will be fed to the beasts of the forest."

Silence had passed and 'Bella' quietened. Jasper turned around. He was happy with his latest win. That was, of course, until she opened her mouth again. "Feed me to the beasts then, Dear Jasper. The beasts of the forest are better than the beasts of Culenzis!" I thought Jasper would turn around and hit her, but he didn't. Instead he smiled to himself and walked away. A remarkable smile on his lips and a knowing glance my way before he walked away. Whistling a tune as he went.

_Masochistic Bastard. _


	9. Chapter 9

**_Thanks for the reviews! 60? Please? *Pouts* _**

**_Really Important stuff in this one! It's the longest chapter I've ever done! _**

**_Thanks to my Beta, again._**

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_"Mommy! Mommy!" I jumped. Little brown curls flying in the air. My forehead was damp; A prolonged reaction from being under the heavy sun all day. _

_My mother placed down her book. Her dress ruffling as she sat up on the stiff chair. She always complained about how her back ached when she was forced to sit so stiffly. My mother was never one to sit still for long. "What is it, Isabella?" _

_"Look, Mama! I caught a butterfly!" I unclasped my chubby fingers from my tightly made fist. The little butterfly sat still in the palm of my hand. The small body twitching. A small flicker of silver dust flew from its beating wings. The butterfly was so small -so beautiful and fragile- that I was afraid I would break it. _

_"It's beautiful Isabella!" She smiled. My mother was beautiful. Smooth skin, soul-deep brown eyes and hair that was never out of place. "But you mustn't crush it! When you catch something beautiful," The butterfly hoped onto her outstretched finger. The silver wings parted and flapped erratically before the butterfly was consumed by a ring of sun light. "You must let it go." _

_I tilted down my adolescent head. "But only if it will do any good of the thing you catch. Leaving someone is different, My dear." She smoothed out any wrinkles in her large, pink dress and picked me up. Settling me on her thigh. Mother hated to hand me off to Nannies and servants. "Shall we get us some food? I'm sure Sue told us that the tea was already laid out in the parlour." I nodded, clutching onto the corset tightly. We walked along the corridors and down many flights of steps. _

_"Mama?" I called softly. _

_"Yes, Isabella?" _

_"Where's Leah?" _

_"Oh, honey! Leah's gone with her mother."_

_"But where mama?" _

_"They have gone to the Market. Harry was feeling poorly today, so they have decided to bestow a visit to Mr. Masen." She smiled. _

_"The medicine man that looks after the people that daddy brings home?" My mother chuckled deeply and darkly as if I had said a rude remark or uncalculated a situation. _

_"Bella, Daddy doesn't bring 'people' home," Mothers eyes adverted elsewhere. "Your father -h-he," She breathed in deeply. Her stomach tightly knotting in before relieving itself out. "Takes people to-" _

_"Throw him in the dungeons, boys!" I heard my father's cruel voice spit. His soldiers nodded like children and forced a man down the steps to the cellar. Taunting tones following. The man was tall. Well built and strong. He glanced at me and for a brief moment our eyes locked. The swirling masses of green and blue in his eyes were filled with such sorrow - such pain that I looked away. A clanging of the cellar door left in the air. _

_"Come on, Isabella. You mustn't tell anybody of this, you here? Not Leah, Not Jacob- Nobody!" I nodded. It was all I could do. I had just witness a man's spirit break... His heart shatter. That was one of the times I added to my ever-growing reasons of my burning hate for Charlie._

* * *

[After Docking At Denali]

* * *

"Isabella!" Alice hissed in my ear. I found myself jolting upwards. My already wet clothes sticking to my body.

"What, Alice?"

Alice smiled nervously. "You needed to be awoken, Ma'am."

"Alice!" I hissed. "No 'ma'am' or 'Isabella' and I swear if you ever dare to call me 'Princess' here I will find the first blade and cut your tongue out!" She nodded slowly. The man with the scars eyeing us.

"So, Bella..." Alice drawled out. "Are you an idiot?"

I was shocked. Alice had never talked to me so honestly. "What are you implying, Dear sister?" I strained. Gritting together my teeth. She was my sister on these god-forsaken waters.

Alice looked at the scarred man. "Talking to a barbarian like that?" It was the first time I had seen Alice truly scared. "You could've been cut! Or killed!" Her voice rose and I could tell the scarred man could hear us. "Don't you ever do that again! Ever! I can't lose you, Bella. I know that you've been protecting me all my life! From Charlie and everyone but if you really want to protect me? You'll be quite from today,"

How could I do that? How could I not fight or open my mouth to defend myself? I didn't want to be the typical woman. I didn't' want to have to hold my tongue and be a slave to a man.

"For me?" She added softly. I nodded but I couldn't help but feel a sickness twist in my stomach.

The ropes on my hand were easily untied. It was one of the things my father had taught me. The feet were more difficult but easily removable. It was silent on the ship. Many of the people they captured had fallen asleep. The other barbarians had fallen asleep or were in a drunk stupor. Only the scarred, watchful Jasper, the green eyed beauty and the tall russet man remained awake.

"How did you know who he was, Bella?"

"My father taught me how to recognise bastards," I smiled when Jaspers jaw clenched. "That and the marks on his arm."

"Huh, I'd have never known..."

"You should've. After all aren't you going to get married to him?" I shook my head in disbelief. "Married to a barbarian. I'd kill myself first."

"Bella..."

I interrupted her. "No, Alice. I swear if I am sold -which I will be- I'll find a way out," I dropped my voice. "Even if I have to kill. I will get us out of here and we can find somewhere else."

She moved herself under my arm. My fingers threading through her hair. I hummed her the soft notes of my childhood until she fell asleep under the starry skies.

_The shadows in the corridors twisted the statues beautiful faces into sinister ones. My small feet pattering quietly on the stone floor. The bread under my arm was still warm; Giving off a lovely scent in the dank air. _

_It was night time. The moon was high in the sky and the whole castle was under the watchful eye of sleep. Why I decided to come down to the cellar I would never understand. Fate weaves it's dress of destiny in the strangest manors. _

_I stole my way past the guards and hid in the shadows away from any other prisoners. I only wanted to talk to the sad man. I wanted to help him feel better. The man was pacing his cellar. His black as night hair a complete mess as his interlaced his fingers and tugged at the roots. _

_"You cannot get out of here, Sir." He turned to look at me, stunned. He moved slowly to the bars of the cellar. Before I could react he grasped my dress and forced my face against the bars. He hissed as I dug my teeth into his hand. Soon, I had a small dagger at his throat. He chuckled and moved back. I was free. _

_"What is the daughter of Charles and Renee Swan doing in the dungeons? I wonder?" I handed him the bread. His nose wrinkled up as he threw it at his feet. "I won't take anything from you! Your just like the rest of them!" _

_"No, Sir. I'm not. I don't want to take people from their families like my father," I sucked in a deep breath. "I don't want to be like my father. I despise him for what he does." It took a long time for him to get to trust me. This 'Cullen' was a nice man. He told me of his children and his family. I visited him every night. And every night I could hear him from his cellar under my room humming a strong tune._

* * *

"How did your hands get untied?"

I opened my heavy eye lids. Blurry images passing through them before they focused. Strong hands over my own. Alice's head was in my lap. Her short hair sticking to her own face. Small whimpers escaping her throat.

"How did you hands get untied?" The voice was more forceful. The strong hands flipped my wrist and tied over another rope of twine. I looked up, grazing my eyes over the strong bands of muscles that flexed instinctively and up to the green orb like eyes.

"I untied them. They were very loosely done."

He looked puzzled. "Then why did you not try to escape?" The other ropes of twine passing over my ankles.

"I did not have a sword in my possession." I huffed indignantly. He laughed. His throat bobbling up and down as the sobs of laughter rippled through him. He walked away after tying together my feet and arms again. Leaving me with a view of the stretches of muscles and slight scuffs on his back.

"Jasper..." Alice sighed in her sleep. I took it upon myself to glare at this 'Jasper' I knew I was tempting fate by glaring at him. I would be killed if I kept acting like the spoilt protective brat I was being. It would've seemed as if we had docked sometime during my sleep. The other captured were being hauled of the ship in large lines. Then, at the end, they were getting either in the selling line or the reserved line. One man was indeed pushed into the forest. I would've prayed for that fate had it not be for the ropes cutting into my wrists.

Alice was awakened by her 'fiancé,' us both getting into the large lines. Alice had to go to the other side. She was being kept as Jaspers play toy whilst I would be sold to the numerous men from all around the island.

"Bella!" She sobbed.

"Alice! I will find you. I will get to you, Alice." She nodded eyes filled with clear tears. "I need you to be strong. If I have to kill every person on this god-damned place I will find you." She pressed her forehead to mine. Her tears streaming down my own face. I would not cry. "Be strong for me, Okay? I'll do everything I can to get us home. I promise." She smiled weakly. I dried her face with the corner of my dress sleeve. "Don't do anything to anger that man. Keep him happy."

"What if he asks for Sex?" My eyes widened at her acclimation. I hadn't thought of that before.

"Tell him it is against your religion. That you must be married before..." Alice nodded again and we moved up in the lines. A large amount of the most beautiful slaves being kept for the men. I would surely be sold.

It wasn't long before we were at the front of the line. Alice was sent off to a different throng of women. The green-eyed mans jaw locked as I walked past him. I was tempted to grab the sword from the floor but I continued on. Standing beside the old woman from the Market.

One would presume they would let us sleep before taking us to the market. But they didn't. Instead they went about washing your face with a dirty rag and ripping away any parts of the dress they deemed 'un revealing' they obviously needed a good sale.

I looked for Alice in the other crowd. Finding myself also looking for another recognisable face. But I found myself turning up empty. We were quickly shuffled on. It was not a long walk to the 'auction' place and one was already being held. The 'auction' place was nothing but a small hill. The women and men would be led to the top of the hill.

The greasy blond haired man was cleaning the girls faces and ripping away any clothing that would dull down the price. He ripped away one woman's top completely. Exposing her bare breasts to the world. I turned away from his slimy breath.

"James." He stated his name before washing my face with the rag. Lukewarm water running down my face. He scanned his eyes over my body. Humming to himself. "Where should I rip this dress?" He ran his hands over my arms. "These," James touched my sleeves than ran to my wrists. "Have to go." He ripped them away. James's eyes leered on my breast area. A devilish grin on his lips. "This has to-" A large male hand pushed away James's. The unnamed green eyed man pulling him away. He removed some of the long skirt. Leaving it to my mid thigh.

"You need to remove more than that, Edward." James sneered. At least I had a name to the beautiful face. A beautiful face that his the bastard underneath. I chastised myself.

"This is enough." Edward grunted.

"If she's to sell for a good price you need to show more, Sire." The Edward nodded and sighed before pulling away the material at my stomach. His strong grasp barely leaving anything left to cover my breasts. "That's better!" he rubbed his palms together. "I might just get you for myself..." The man Edward growled and pushed me away. Strutting off after barking at James to move along.

I was left in silent contemplation. Watching as the other women and men stood up to be sold. Some cried and fought but many just stood and took whatever they had coming. Other women were dressed less than respectably. The topless ones were the work of James bloody hands. But the being sold part wasn't the worse. It was the leering of the men below. I could only pray to my lord that James wouldn't purchase me.

Before the night had overcame the island it was my own time. The legs that looked solid had turned to liquid. I parted my shoulders and followed the Russet Skinned man. An ink on his hand that was recognisable to my mind. I knew this man. In some other time... another place.

_Piles of mud formed into small piles. _

_Russet skin. Dark, inky eyes. Ja- Jac- Damn. _

The men below looked up at me and I could see the disgusting thoughts mingle in their minds. The auctioneer next to me seemed to be contemplating something before he merely nodded and carried on with the old woman beside me. It would seem to be that I would take the turn after her. Prayers could still be accounted for. I would rather be food for Animals than a wife or thrall for the brutes.

I struggled against the restraints. My scandaly clad body on display in front of the leering crowds of men that looked at me desirably. A thin veil of my hair covering the marks on my arm . I had lost all hope of being saved. I could see Alice in the crowds. She was on her knees beside the man that forced me onto the ship. Her eyes pleading with his. She was probably begging for him to purchase me as his slave, but he held out. I couldn't blame him. What prize was I? Jasper seemed to be waiting for something. His eyes narrowing back and forth.

Alice had left my sword in the house in the forest. If I was sold I would claim their sword for my and own and fight them the best I could. I would rather be my father's puppet than stay in a land full of savages. I heard the auctioneer start at a hefty price and before I could admonish my tongue it escaped me.

"Really?" I questioned. He stared at me fiercely. "Even I know your cheating these idiotic imbeciles of their money," The man looked at me with distaste. His sharp nose and curved up lips marked his face in a scorn as his hand hit my cheek. I could barely feel a sting as I smiled at him. I would not go down so easily.

"You should know better than to talk to a man that way, Woman. Do I have to raise my hand to you again?" He licked his thin lips, "Or should the next punishment be more severe?" I spat at him. If I would be killed -which I would rather be- then I would go down like those fairytales. I would go standing and fighting, not crying and pleading.

"For who, Caius?" Smooth velvet tones questioned. "For you or the girl?" Edward pulsated forward. The same gem stone eyes and the delectable body of the man I met on the first day facing me. I turned from him in disgust. His mind was probably drowning in a guilt pit of blood and horror. Imagine all of the families he broke up? He was as no good as my father.

"She was talking back, Sire."

"I don't care."

Caius laughed. "Do you not care for rules, m'lord?" His reply sarcastic. "What a good chief you would make."

The man, Edward, or whatever his name was replied. "Now who's talking back? She is mine, Caius. You do not trade, buy, sell or punish what is mine." He clamped his fingers around the restraints and with a cool flick of his blade, I was released from the twine prison. He turned to the small crowd. Disappointment displaying many of the men's faces. "She is mine," He turned his cold stare to my own gaze. "You are mine." With that he pulled out another length of twine and I knew. Even though I had escaped one prison I was bound to another. I was bound to the malicious barbarian beside me.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: **Hey, Guys. Sorry about the lack of updates but the six weeks holiday is around the corner and updates will be more frequently then. I know the stories a bit slow but give another chapter or two and the main story will spark in! **

The time had passed slowly. The strange globe in the sky had risen and passed over only a single house in the space of what you would call a couple of hours. The time had passed in strange lurches and dragging lulls. But pass it does. Even for me, Edward Cullen. It passed by. It's a strange analogy, that of time, but it serves its purpose. Am I not clear enough for your feeble mind? Of course I am not. You are from a time far more advanced than my own.

I had been sat in my ring of peace for 'hours.' The time trickling past as slowly as a droplet of water down a drink or a salty tear down a maidens face. The flowers around my body were fragrant and fresh. The globe in the dark, twinkling sky illuminating a small string of light around the meadow. The lightning perfect for my melancholy mood.

In buying Bella I hoped to achieve a wife. One that would fulfil the duties of any other, feed me, bear me a son and be the complete opposite of my mother. But then, to my own wonder, I found a woman the complete opposite of my expectations. The one expectations she achieved was that of not being like my sinister, bitter, erratic mother. Bella was beautiful -that much was certain- but her mouth did not suit her seemingly timid beauty. She was a spitfire. A mouth which was familiar with wit and sarcasm. Bella was determined on escape. She had untied her hands twice in the short brisk walk to my stone home on the dominating hill. Whether or not she was a thief was to be decided. She had already taken my sword and brought it to my chest another three times. Cunning, Witty and beautiful, just the opposite of what I begrudgingly wanted.

In fact, I had only agreed to a wife to please my new chief. His blatant disregard for his old life pushing me to find something more permanent. I blamed him for the bewitching woman in my house. My mind would be as clear as the small patch of darkness in the sky hadn't it been for him. Jasper was adamant I marry and, after his speech, I could not help but agree with him. Of course it had all been a charade so I would feel some sort of guilt. Never the less I knew he'd make a great chief.

As of all nights on Culenzis It was either cold or warm. Today it was cold. The freezing tips of white snow drifting at the broken limbs of the ancient trees. My own skins were covered in the thick snow. The warmth they brought helped but I enjoyed the cold. I enjoyed the numbness that spreaded when my body stayed in touch with something so cold. My mother used to wrap us up when this strange substance fell from the sky.

But now? She left us. Not bothering to come out of her hollow home unless it was for a meeting or the dinner that arose every few sunsets. I had often dreamed of killing my mother. Wrapping my arms around her throat and crushing her. Taking away her life like she took away my childhood. The neglect and pain she inflicted on my infant body that forced an emotional amour thicker than any metal onto my body. The stem of my hatred for her ran deeper than any root of the tallest tree. Of course there was a spark of love for her. For the old Esme I adored.

I no longer hated her for my old short lived reason. It was a different hatred than the burden of the crown of Crom. Now that Jasper had taken over as Chief either me or Emmett must take our mothers place. I also hated my mother for the disappointment she brought. Before my father was either captured of killed, she was vibrant and happy. Of course my mother and father had arguments. My father held a deep grudge over a trip to Crom my mother once took.

The night air had taken a chilly turn and the pale globe hung fat and low in the sky. It's superiority over shinning the smaller, twinkling lights in the dark abyss of the black sky. I briefly wondered if I left her enough furs when I left.

_"Let me see you!" I barked ungraciously. I had her in my room for no longer than a shift of the sun and I had already ordered her to undress. I was a very, very inpatient man. _

_She glared at me from under her eyelashes. The burnt umber turning into a deep onyx. She growled, "Doubt it," I chuckled. She sounded like a lamb trying ot live up to the mighty lion. _

_"Do you doubt the truth, Bella?" I smirked and circled her like my prey. Isolating her sweet body to a small corner of the room. _

_"I doubt your savage idea of the truth. I will get away from you, brute." She was uncared of me? I had to change that quickly. The only women in my life that were -currently- uncared of me was my own mother and -I assumed-Rosalie, Emmett's-unwavering-to-my-glare-bride. _

_"If you were to escape, Bella." I stopped my rotation and played flimsily with one of her locks. "If, that is, you could escape you would never leave this island. I would hunt you down until I found you. I would tear apart every family, every village," I stressed. "until I found you. And then? Even after all of the guilt and shame that would lurk in the pit of your stomach, I would strip you of all the rights being my bride would give you. You would be nothing more than my whorish bed thrall. One of many disgusting women used ot pleasure me at my expense." _

_I waited in silence. "Your father, mother and any other family would die under my blade. Every child, woman and father would hate you for the pain and death I would cause at your expense. My wrath would not go unheeded." More silence. The silence passed just as the time did; In strange lurches and dragging lulls. "For now?" I moved her hair to the side of her face. Kissing the erratic throbbing under her ear and pleasuring myself from the shudder that crashed over her body like a wave. "You will obey me. Let. me. see. you." I punctuated each point with a kiss on her neck. _

_Bella shuddered deeply. I wondered if she had cried in the time her back was pressed to my cheek. I reconsidered, however, when her eyes had taken on a glassy effect of anger and her breasts heaved with deep breaths. She stepped away and ran her fingers over the material of the shredded dress. Fingers slowly looped under the shoulder and, with a quick rip, it fell to the floor. Smooth planes of flesh wrapped around her body, the candle light flickering over the wide hips that would bare my son, over the high curvature of her breast and onto the attentive, pink nipples that stood erect and high. I had the desire to touch them and to knead the presumably soft flesh. _

_She bent down and flicked her remaining dress down over her hips and over the long legs that were uncovered. A wet, glistening sight nestled between the apex of her thighs. The more primal urges in me growled at me to take her as mine, to mark her as Edward Cullen's. Instead I left to go to the meadow, and my thoughts took over my body. _

It had been two days since we took her and Alice from Crom. Four days -we had only recently discovered from Alice- since they had run away from the slave duties they took on at the palace. Alice had taken well to being Jaspers bride. They had formed a bond in the two short days they had known each other. It was surprising, actually. Alice had treated me like a friend and ties and threats weren't needed to keep her with Jasper. In fact I was sure they were in the deepest depths of the delirious abyss of love.

I wondered if we would be getting a visit from a very angry Mr. Brandon. Surely he would travel over the seas to find his daughters. Alice had warned us off an imminent visit from a higher force. I don't know why she was helping me. She also told me to keep a close watch on Bella, that she would try to escape. Alice wanted to stay here on Culenzis. She did not want to go home. Alice had already partaken in the simple duties of a wife. She cooked, cleaned and welcomed Jasper and his newest duty. Their immediate marriage and Jaspers newest position as chief would be announced at the feast the next day.

I had come to the edge of the forest. A small stream blocking my path to the massive hill where my house was perched. The stream snaked down over the bank and under trees. Fishes squirmed and slithered, their scales catching the light and shimmering with an intense beauty. My home was a small, circular stone one. The mud of the earth had been stuck between the rocks and a large circle in the roof had been placed so that when midday came the sun was directly over her. But when it was cold a thick weaving of furs was draped over the top, Letting no cold or any un-godly weather seep in.

I covered the length of the stream in a quick jump and a made my way towards the house that was guarded heavily with my finest men. I was a fully experienced fighter myself. Although I was not as good as Jasper I surpassed my own expectations. I had many a kill under my skins. A small token of their deaths kept in a small chamber nearby. I would show them to the children me and Bella would produce soon.

There it was again. Bella. At the corner of my every thought and at the centre of the strange pull in my chest. Even the sound of her name as the strange echo of my mind sent a strange tingle over my skin. The small throb in my wrist increased its beat at the thought of her face and my anger grew. I did not want to think of her. She would cloud my fighting skills, my thinking skills and she would be a burden on me.

I sighed and pushed open the large wooden door. Small flickering lights illuminating the walls. Shadows covered the most of every surface. Deep black shadows that casted a veil in every corner of my house and mind. The shadows a pulse on my mind; constantly there. I moved over to my room door. Nodding curtly at Jacob I allowed myself into my room.

This room had always been my favourite.. From the night sky that would shine down starrily or the beautiful engrave-ment on the walls. The room was covered in furs and a small flame that gave enough light for the room. It was peaceful. The only place in the world -meadow aside- where I did not have the weight of the world on my broad shoulders or the planning of a seize. It was quite -sinfully so- a resting place for my eternal mind. Even the pulses of the shadows quietened here.

The furs off the bed covered a small bump. The thick wolf furs doing nothing to hid the supple curves of the woman underneath. I knew those supple curves well. My arousal once again reaching its peak with a mind of its own.

_"You," I pointed at the sliver of flesh causing a painful arousal in my nether regions. "Stay here." I shrugged on my furs. The weather would pick up in its storms soon. I was right. _

_She glared at me angrily. Her eyes a dark onyx with a ring of fire burning below the imperious depths. Bella's sweet voice spat, "Doubt it." _

_I was momentarily surprised by this sudden change. I decided to play her little game. My circulations around her body halted until I was behind her. Bella's body pushed flush against my chest. The arousal straining on her hip. "You doubt the truth, Woman?" She turned away jutting her chin out indignantly. "You just don't get it do you?" My head shook as I moved her hair around the one side of her slender neck. Kissing the thrumming under her ear after smoothing out the skin with the flat of my tongue. I ignored the strange hum of electricity under my finger tips. _

_"Did I not explain this to you earlier? Did you not have the same response? Do I have to explain this again? You are mine." I growled low and feral. "You will never escape." I accentuate my sudden possessive need with a flick of my tongue up her neck. "Even if you do, if you do," I stressed. "You will never get off this island. I would burn down every house to the ground. I kissed her neck. "I would take my sword and taint it with your mother, father and sisters blood until it sung your name in a guilt shed blood lust. And when I did find you? I would take your body and lock it away. You would lose every privilege of being my wife," Another push of my body and I slowly rotated her body towards me. "and you would be nothing more than a whorish bed thrall. My village would be gone and thousands of lives shed because you couldn't live up to your duty. You pity-ful, selfish self would leave an impermeable stain of blood on your hands." Bella blinked before my words sunk into her. "What would your God think of that?" _

_Then -as if to prove a point- I kissed her. My own hard lips pressing against the soft, supple ones her face beheld. A new desire rippling through my being. Bella's mouth was slick and tasty. An addictive thing to a man who had never kissed. She could clearly feel the arousal pressing against her. I pushed her back after kissing her lips again. _

_"Stay here. I will return shortly." I ordered. Bella fell onto the piles of furs as I pushed her back. Bella's brown eyes down casted as she gave a curt nod. _

I sniffed the air deeply. There was something different about my room. It was not the new scent that had overcame most of the air. After much speculation, I noticed it. There were no shadows in here. No lurking doubts or shady moments. Every surface was touched by an imaginable light. No candle or flame could light the room the way she did. I settled in beside her, content in the fact that she hadn't left. She was already asleep when I pushed her to my side or when I drifted off into a deep sleep. Of course when my eyes adjusted to the light in the morning I saw no bump beside me. No hair flowing freely or the face of the woman that had bewitched my thoughts.

There was an ajar door, a cold empty bed and Jacob, one of my best fighters, on the floor, presumably dead.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm Crap, this story is crap and I feel like crap. When other writers do this I go "Nut up or Shut up!" So I'll try to "Nut up and Shut up". I WILL FINISH THIS STORY THIS YEAR. I don't own twilight, I just make SM's puppets dance for fun. This chapter is long to apologise and contains lengthy quotes from ****_New Moon_****. My first time at writing any kind of kissing scene. Be kind? I'm updating loads more in this six weeks. Except another seven or five chapters. Sorry, Sorry, Sorry. I need a new BETA my other ones have been less than helpful. This was meant to be three chapters. lucky, you! J Sorry. The next three chapter are already written! J**

_Please God,_

_ Please give thou divine mercy to me. For in my moments of pain I grow weary of faith. I break no bread nor drink no wine for hunger is my accompanist, bear your holy mercy onto every crevice of my body until we meet again. _

_Amen._

I prayed and prayed. The ditch I was sat In was filthy, muddy and stunk worse than the palace stables. What was I expecting of a barbarians ditch? in fact, what was a expecting of a ditch? I didn't matter at least I was away from that man. I despised the way his eyes roamed over my bare body and when his lips touched mine? I had to repress a shudder. With every passing of his hands I swear I felt the blood of the innocents tarnish my skin. But it felt good. When his hands passed over my hardened nipples I swear I felt a wetness in my lower regions. Ecstasy had thrilled through my body.

It was dawn now. I had left not too long ago. Thick, shimmering blankets of snow had fallen in the night and landed in soft piles on the ground. The globe of light had risen and fallen behind strange clumps of white cloud in the air. The stars had long bowed out their small, twinkling lights and let the sun take the stage of the sky.

I was sad to see the stars go. They were so beautiful in the sky, they held a sort of majesty that befell all humans. Stars just sat in the sky. The never changed nor judged but they knew and saw all. It was like having a small chip of God with you always and now that day had came the stars faded. My heart had squeezed a small sigh of pain when the stars left but I had already felt a pain larger than ever before earlier in the day. The pain was that of betrayal.

The pain was searing - a white cloud of dissipated joy that stuck me in my insides. I had to clutch at my sides to stop the throbbing. I was like a lost moon-my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation- that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind.

I was lost. I searched for Alice everywhere. Over the misty mountains and down under trenches of trees and thick brackens but, alas, I came up with a hand as empty as when I started. That was until I searched in the neighbourhoods. It was a risky thing to do considering I had just left Edwards home after his promises to burn his village. I had almost given up when I saw a small, rotting house -no bigger than a slaves- on the side of a carved out, trampled road.

I inspected the rotting shack further. It had two short of windows, holes if you will, carved out next to the slab of wood used as a door. Inside was no better. From the breaking dawns light you could scarcely make out the cobwebs and dust. So I peered in harder, desperate to find any sign of my little Alice, then a small shuffling appeared in the corner and my eyes had pinpointed the object of my desire. Alice was emerging from a thick pile of blankets in a haggard mess. Her choppy hair was in a disarray and her clothes non-existent. Then, as if the bile In my stomach hadn't risen to its sickly climax, Alice leaned down and kisses the lips of Jasper. Her eyes and posture happy and exuberant. I could feel it then, the sensation that a huge hole had been punched through my chest, excising my most vital organs and leaving ragged, unhealed gashes around the edges that continued to throb and bleed despite the passage of time.

I scrambled away and ran into the fading morn. I would not let my tears fall for Alice. It had been a little over three days and she was already in love with the man? How could she fall for such a killer? Jasper was a hunter - a mad man of abdominal will and a thirst that could only be quenched by plunders and blood. His hand was attached to a cup of the blood of innocents and his eyes was lit the colour of the sea by the memories of others. Every move he made was fluid, just like the fall of blood from his blade.

I could never fall for Edward like she did Jasper. Granted Edward was not as vicious as Jasper, but he was still a murderer. Could I build a life here if escape was not evident? If I did make it away from Culenzis where else would I go? I had already ran from my father. I had already ran from Edward. It seemed that all I did was run. I never faced any problem. Perhaps Alice's show of affection was that of a lie, perhaps she knew better than to run and faced her problems. Nothing -not even my father's gruelling training- could prepare me to be brave the way Alice had.

Alice, sweet proclaimed Naive Alice, had shared her virtue, the most precious thing for a slave girl to have, with a brute so we could be safe. Alice had faced her fear with squared shoulders and a bravery so majestic that it out proclaimed any other act with a sword. It could be bravery or maybe she could have really fallen into love with him. I doubted that fact. But I ran from Alice as well. I could've ran in there whilst the man was weak and cleaved his head from his body, but I doubt 444I had the sheer will to do so. I would only ever kill for somebody I loved beyond reasonable doubt. Alice did not fit into this category... Nobody did, not even the woman who gave me life.

Yet here I was, sat in a ditch. The past years of my life I had spent whining, moaning and groaning over the excessive training my father put me through when I could use every piece of information to better myself here. Maybe if I showed Edward how good a fighter I was, I could be one of them. I wouldn't be doomed to being his wife or sharing my virtue. I would fight for him, but even that idea was preposterous. I heard of the things men did to women who they thought were weak. Rape, murder, slander... If I was Edwards wife-I still liked the idea of fighting-then maybe I wouldn't be objected to such things. Maybe being Edward's wife would hold more benefits if I tried to accept my newest fate. It was time I was brave.

I had numerous options available now. I could crawl back to Edward and beg him for forgiveness whilst plotting in the back of my mind, I could run again into the forest and become a lone-man. I decided on option one. Dragging myself back to my father would be worse than accepting to be the bride of a barbarian.

The nausea from my stomach faded and the bleeding pain seeped in. My foot, which was still twisted in some odd shape, throbbed under my body weight and snapped viciously. I ripped off a small sliver of my fabric and create a small bandage for my ankle. Walking was much more durable. I struggled to walk for the first half of the walk, I remembered the way to Edwards house as some short of haze of greenery and shrubs.

I walked under the large trees, illuminated only by their own beauty and the dawn. Edward Cullen was a man. Not like the ones on Crom who cared about hair, style and status. Edward Cullen was like the prince from my favourite fairy tales. The prince who -in my favourite tale- was beautiful, stubborn and fearless. The princess was stubborn and a fighter and after her own insecurities and misconceptions faded, she fell in love with the man she deemed unlovable. I would've thought this could be applicable to me... If it hadn't been a fairy tale.

I trudged through more sycamores and leaves until I reached the edges of a small field. There were three homes sitting precariously upon the greenery. I couldn't be certain If one of them were Edwards home. Behind the three houses a larger house sat fatly upon a hill. I couldn't bring the sheer abdominal will forward to climb up it, so I settled for knocking upon one of these doors.

My foot dragged behind me as I hauled myself up to the third home, the only difference between the three was a large letter than carved up the wooden door. This one held an eloquent R looped with, what one could presume to be, an E of some sort. Should I knock? Or just walk in? Did the people here know of any manners and were able to raise fists to wood? My leg, which throbbed and bleed worse than before, finally gave in. The flesh collapsing under my weight and leaving me in a heap on the floor.

The door of a house opened a crack and a woman briefly came out. My throat garbled a strange, unheeded word before I was over came with small dots than clambered over my vision. The black dots clumped together, forming a barrier over my eyes before I was lost in some dream world.

_"What's your name?" A melodic voice rang out. Harsh white light invaded my vision. Shiny floors and polished porcelain over took the wood, stones and nature of Culenzis. I moved quickly, desperately along the great halls of my once home. I trembled and clung to the walls, desperate for any shadows to cling and hide._

_The voice vibrated from the walls. "What's your name?" I followed the timbre hum up to the Attic and down to the sewers. Still the voice hummed. "What's your name?" And again. "What's your name?" I ran, desperate for a way out of the castle walls but found none. _

_"What's your name?"_

_"What's your name?"_

_"What's your name?" _

_"Your name?" _

_I ran into the cellars, clinging to the comforting shadows and sneaking glanced into the caverns and small caves. I peered through another cellar. _

_"What's your name?" The voice, much closer now, hummed. _

_"Tell me your name." _

_"Bella." I answered, although my lips did not part. I found myself staring at the smaller, fiver year old Bella. "What's yours?" _

_"Edward" The man bathed in the dark veil of a shadow answered. He looked up at me, a ghost, and smiled. "Edward Cullen senior, Isabella."_

_ The man -strong and lean. His eyes green and his muscles bold- was covered in a shadow. It was not one of a burden of marriage like my mother, nor one of a long conceived family name like Alec, but it was a shadow of sadness. A man deprived of seeing his family ever again. A man so broken and beaten, he had resulted to talking to his enemies daughter. _

I shot up with a loud gasp. A sheen sheet of sweat covering my body. I ran my trembling hands over my body, pleased to find it covered in a new fabric. I checked my body for any scuffs and marks. The fingers that still trembled looked over to my arm searching, scrutinizing for any sign that someone could've seen my mark. But I found none. Just a piece of pale skin. My mark was gone.

"Not Gone," A coarse voice spoke. "Just hidden." A woman from the doorway called. She was beautiful in all aspect, you could tell. She smiled warmly. "I guess your Edwards girl?" I nodded.

"Why? Why would you do this?" I begged. If in court she would plead insanity! Why help me? The woman who had run from her deranged husbands brother? She did not say a word, this woman. Instead she grabbed the corner of a cloth and dabbed it gently in the water. She then rubbed it over her own arm and slowly you could see the splatters of an ink mark appear.

It was tense when the last of this "Make-Up" fell from her arm. An old and intricate looping system was covering her upper arm. A silky tendril of her blond hair covering a portion. Rosalie darted her fingers over and removed her hair. The initials of AV standing out boldly against her lily-white skin. It was the mark of Aro Volturi, the king of Volterra. "Because I know, " her voice barely above a whisper. "I know what it feels like to be marked." I rose, desperate to touch the markings and know they were real. That this "Rosalie," really was the missing princess of Volterra.

I stopped my fingers mid air. "It's okay, Isabella. When my father dies me and Emmett-"

"Emmett knows?" I asked, bemused.

She showed me a lazy grin. "Yes, he accepts me. When my father dies I take over the inheritance of my kingdom. I can announce that we will merge with Culenzis and me and Emmett!" Rosalie smiled beautifully. Absentmindedly, she played with a strand of her hair. "Are in love and-" There was a loud crash filling the room. Her husband stalking in furiously. He didn't notice me. Emmett took long, quick strides and shook Rosalie violently. His hands white under the pressure and his whole frame shaking exponentially.

"Are you hurt?" His eyes showed such fear -such vulnerability- that his only focus was her. I guess it was true... Love is irrational, I reminded myself. The more you love someone, the less sense anything made. "Are you hurt?" His hands worked their way over her body. Checking for anything. "Rose!" He hissed. "What is this?" He pointed to her uncovered mark.

"Emmett! It's fine! Its-" She tipped her head to me. Emmett seemed unwilling to take his eyes of her but when he did, his eyes furiously darkened. "the Princess of Crom." She finished lamely.

There was long pause. Emmett seemed deep in his own expediential thoughts. "Edward!" He called.

"Emmett! What do you plan on telling Edward!"

Emmett's lip curled over his teeth in disgust. "The truth!"

"Would you tell him the truth about me?"

"It's different Ros-"

"How?" She demanded. "You tell him about..."

"Bella." I filled in.

"Bella. Then I tell Edward about me." Rosalie stomped down one of her feet like a petulant child. The door open and sending in a narrow stream of light. It was almost midday now, I guessed.

"But Rosie-" He pleaded.

"No. You leave it be, Emmett. Or shall I tell your mother?"

"No!" He gasped. "If you tell my mother-"

"Tell my mother what?" Another voice echoed in the doorway. I cowered behind Rosalie and Emmett's squarely. Edward took the silence as an echo of a private conversation and changed the subject. "Did you find her?" He demanded. Although I could not see his face I knew there was line worming its way between his brow and a perfect scorn of his lips.

"Actually-" Emmett began. Rosalie warned his quickly and he quietened. The room silent. It was my time to be brave. I took in several deep breaths, calming my mind and easing the rapid beating under my skin. I sent a quick prayer up to my lord and checked the "Make-up" covered up the ink completely before stepping around Rosalie and Emmett.

"She's right here." I propped myself against a wall, ready for Edwards house burning rage. He glared. The green in his eyes solidifying into a mass of hatred, evil and spite. His body locked up into a tight compact of anger like a Jack-in-a-box the children played with ready to burst. I didn't know how he would react.

"Leave us." He waved dismissively at Rosalie and Emmett.

"But-"

"Leave us." He demanded more punctually. Rosalie threw me a worried glance as she closed the door behind her and Emmett. I assumed Edward would blow like the lid of a ceramic pot. I thought he would slam me against a wall and rapidly punch my face until I bled out an apology. But he didn't. He did the thing I was ashamed to admit I wanted him to do the most. He pushed me violently against the wall. Nipping at my neck and skimming his hands down over my sides and up towards my breasts. His hands, which had now finished their quest, reached up and held my face. His lips roughly slamming against mine in a primal, animalistic action. I reached behind him. Entwining my hands in his hair and tugging at the nape, his lips nipping and sucking on my lower lip. The kiss was hungry and urgent. He pulled back slightly letting me resurface before pulling my lips back to his with a guttural groan. His hands, now tired of tracing my face, moved back down to my breasts, rubbing slightly over the hardened nipples. His tongue coaxed open mine and opened up a gate of furious kissing a lingering touches. When he finally pulled away my lips were sore and red. His face had changed from a vision of ecstasy to one of an angry, scorned man. Black clouds smothering the green in his eyes.

"Bella," He gritted out painfully. "I told you I would burn down every house until I found you. You are just lucky I found you before my temper ran to its peak." He distanced himself from me. His raging erection prominent. "If you ever, ever try to pull something like that again I shall have you locked away! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now and replace you with a different thrall! You are nothing more than a selfish, ignorant... I tell you I would kill for you! Yet you run away gaily to find your whore of a sister who gave her virtue to the first man she knows after barely three days." He paused his rapid pace and faced me firstly. His face so close that I could see the tiniest of a crinkle in his skin. "Your mother must've been the town whore. You sisters gives anything away. Is that what you do, Bella? Do you give anything away to anyone?" His hand curled into a fist. The skin pulling tightly over his knuckles. "Do you, Isabella?" His voice sent shivers down my back. The cool, vindictive attitude sending me in a whirlwind.

_"Do you, Isabella?" He whispered. Running a hand over his trimmed moustache. _

_"N-No, Father. I don't! I swear, I didn't-" His hand, coming at me in the form of a fist, silence me. _

"Answer me!" He demanded. Edwards hand shook at his side in a twitching manner. I knew what was coming next. Pain. Shame. Fear. "Do you?" I couldn't answer. I was locked in my own torment of past images. Locked in my own stupor of fear.

_"Do you, Isabella?" He whispered. I was older now, fifteen years at least. _

_"No, Father. I don't." His hand didn't need to silence me. His sword did, cutting a long stripe down my arm. _

"Silence Is not going to bode you well, Bella!" A throb of a line in his head furiously peaked out at me. "Are you going to answer me?" His hand rose an inch, Edward couldn't control the monster in his body.

_"Do you, Isabella?" Charlie demanded, it was my sixteenth birthday. _

_"No, Charlie. I do not. Do you?" His fist, aimed at my face, landed in my palm. His sword clattering at my feet with a resounding clash. "Do you, Charlie?" He trembled at my feet. _

"Do you, Isabella?" He repeated with a vengeance. Edwards other hand punctuated each word with a colossal shake of my frail shoulders. Something, somewhere inside of Edward snapped. His curled up hand sprung up, the directory aiming directly for my face. Like I had done with Charlie, I caught his hand easily, brining my own fist to his nose in a swift _crack_ of the bone in his nose. But Edward did not fall like my father. Instead of crying or screaming, I once again found my back against the wall and his lips, hands and teeth nipping and pinching at any bit of skin he could get.

Edward gently nipped at my lower lip and placed soft, tender kisses down the column of my throat. His hands skimmed my sides in a long swipe. "Stop." He wheezed out in a bloody breath. "Come." His eyes were green again and his smile lazy but firm. Reluctantly I followed. Ignoring the collisions of warmth and love clumping together in my stomach. But, as my sister was witness to, resistance to _love_, after however long, was futile. But I would try to resist the monster that turned men mad and women insane. If I didn't, who would?

"Edward!" Emmett gasped as he clung onto the door frame. "It's Jasper. Big fight. The tiny one-"

"Breathe Emmett."

Emmett gulped in a suckle of air. "Jasper is in much trouble with his new bride," He spat the word at me resulting in a growl from Edward. "Tanya has staked a claim on Jasper, which means his little wife has to fight for him unless someone steps in."

"We have to go." I demanded.

"You let her talk too much." Emmett jerked towards me.

"I know," Edward said in a resigned tone, he clutched his nose as we walked out of his home.

"What happened to your nose?"

"She punched me." Emmett looked at me in a little shock before masking it well with humour.

"Punched by your wife. That's new."

"He was going to hit me." I snarled.

"Did you just _snarl_ at me, woman?"

I threw my hands up as we walked. "My name is _Bella. _Not Woman. How would you like it if I called you idiot? or village drunk?"

"Shut up." Emmett snarled. From the glances Rosalie was giving me I shut my mouth.

We walked at a faster pace than I knew was possible. Soon we broke through a line of trees and into a rough, sandy crescent. Small clutters of people watched from the sides as a broken Jasper sat on a small hill. A blond violently shouting at Alice. Happy, satisfied Alice.

There was a small platform similar to the selling block. Alice, who was near to tears, ran to me in an effective bid to flee.

"Bella!" Alice breathed and wrapped her arms around me. "I can't do this, B. They want me to fight and I can't. I-"

"How can you avoid this?" Maybe Alice wasn't as brave as I thought.

"I can't _avoid_ it. If I do, she gets Jasper. If I don't fight, she gets Jasper."

"What do you mean, 'If you do?'" I brushed the loosest tendrils of her hair away and smothered down her clothes.

"If I fight and lose..."

I dug my nails into her clothes. "Why can I hear extra emphasis on the I?"

Bella," Alice was pleading with me again. Her eyes tearing up as Tanya Smirked.

"Alice..." I looked at Edward. He looked at me with a strange gaze. As if he was wondering what Alice was requesting. Then it must have clicked because I found myself wrapped in his arms.

"No, Alice. She will not fight for you. It's not her place!" He sneered at her. "I own her. I don't care if your her sister! You'd do better than request for a woman -my future wife!- to battle for you!" I glowered at him.

"If you let me do this Edward..."

"NO!" He thundered.

"I'll marry you, Edward." His resolve seemed to falter.

"You already are."

"No. I'll stop fighting. I'll stop trying to escape. I will marry you, properly. Just let me fight for her."

"How good are you with your fists?"

I snorted. Getting out of Edwards grasp. Who knew how much blood had been shed at his beastly hands. "I will fight with a sword, Edward."

"No you won't!" He cried like a woman. "Tanya is one of the best sword fighters we have. You -a spoilt child from Crom- cannot possibly beat her."

My lips pulled into a sneer. "You know nothing, Edward." I spat. Taking a sword Alice had produced out of thin air. "I will do this for you, Alice."

"My deepest gratitude, Bella."

I nodded and pointed at Jasper. "Why you are in such delirious depths of love for that monster I will never know." Then, for the first time in my life, Alice smacked my face with her hand. The burning sting after her hit proved her love for him.

"You really do love him, Don't you Alice?" She nodded glumly. "Then I will fight my hardest for you. I hope you know I'm giving up any chance of freedom for you Alice."

"I understand, Bella. If the time calls for it, I will fight for you one day."

"I would never ask you to."

Alice nodded and clutched Jaspers arm. "Good Luck."

"Bella." Edward whispered painfully. His shoulder shook with small trembles and his green eyes clouded with a clear, white sheen. His hands, calloused yet soft, reached out to me. "Don't do this. You could be killed."

I fiddled with the clasp of the sword Alice had given me. It was light and cheap, but I would use my fists if I had to. "Then stop it, Edward." I pleaded. "Please."

"I can't," he was torn, desperate and pleading. "Nobody can. When a claim is made its ... Survival of the fittest. But Bella," He grabbed my hand and ran his thumb over the bruised knuckles. "If it goes too far...If she attempts to kill you... I can-"

"Where is your faith, Edward? Do you doubt that I will win?" Edward sighed softly. Alice was nestled in the arms of a different Jasper. He wasn't a fighting kind but he looked kind and gentle... He was in love with Alice. Was it possible for a man of his stature to love? Did they love like we did. I turned towards the blond haired fighter. She was tall, with a long jagged scar running from her brow to her lips. Her body was clad in leathers that did nothing to cover her assets. "You wait, Edward. I will win."

Tanya smirked and stood in the middle of the platform. "You'll be dead soon. Then I shall have Jasper."

"You are at the lesser so I shall be a nobleman and give you a choice," I rose upwards the sword and fist. "Are you a fighter of a fist or that of a sword?" She smiled again and rose upwards a beautiful sword. It shone brightly unlike the old one Alice had given me.

Tanya did not spare any time in getting the upper hand. She ran for me with her sword, raising in the air before slashing it down in diagonal patterns. I countered, holding her sword before ducking. I slashed mine, just below her stomach, but she jerked backwards. The arena was silent except for our clashing of swords and grunts of movements. I countered all of her moves with my own and we were at a standstill. No blood had dropped onto the arena.

Tanya moved forward sluggishly, the sword cutting in near my ear but not quite near enough to draw any pain. She tried again and again with the same move and, after two more attempts, I grew tired. The cool steel blade had swiped over her hand and drew her blood onto the floor. Her sword clattering onto the deck in silent defeat. I dropped my sword and kicked it out of the arena, I picked up hers instead. It was a much better quality sword. But Tanya had other ideas, she cracked her knuckles furiously. Snarling like a wolf she ran, her body hitting mine to the ground. She punched with tremendous force. Her fists, which I presumed had to be iron with the pain they inflicted, hit me over and over.

I dug my sword into her foot. Impaling it into the wood. Tanya shrieked with pain and clawed at her hair. The golden hair falling to the ground in heaps as she attempted to pull out her foot. It was clear the swords blade had gone through the bone.

"I'll kill you!" She screamed. I stepped forward and taunted her. Perhaps I was too cocky for I was soon on the floor. Tanya's left hook was dangerous. Edward picked me and planted me softly on my feet much to the disgrace of the crowd. He kissed my briefly with so much as a "Good Luck."

I was livid. Do you ever get that feeling when your blood boils with hatred? That your vision -although perfect - clouds with an anger and resentment so deep you feel the need to vent it in some violent form? That was the feeling I got when I placed the last punch onto her face. She fell to the floor in a beaten, broken pulp.

I didn't have time to register the roar of the crowd. I was pressed firmly into Alice's arms. "Thank you, My princess." She whispered. A blush staining my cheeks. Jasper gave me a curt nod and left with his bride. Edward was soon trailing his hands over my body, checking for any chinks in my body.

"I am fine, Edward." He continued his search, desperate to find anything. "Edward." I demanded more forcefully. "I. Am. Fine." He nodded although his bottom lip tugged out in a cute pout.

I looked around. The crowds were long gone. Footsteps in the sand echoed the loneliness of the field. The barbarians left now there was no fight. Tanya was leaning against a wall close to me and Edward. The sword still through her foot, the blood gushing out in long drawls. She smirked and drew her bloody finger up towards Edward. She had been beaten...she knew that. "One day," She spat. "Somebody will ask you to fight for him!"

I looked over at Edward. He was beautiful, handsome and kind, but at the same time? He was malicious, cocky and had broken up so many families -so may hearts- that I couldn't be sure if he even had a heart... Or a conscience for that matter.

"One day," I repeated, locking gazes with Edward. "I'll say, 'Keep him.'"

**_a/n I've been a terrible updater, but I am back. Give me some love and some hate. All questions and queries will be answered. _**


	12. Chapter 12

**_A/N: Bella seems to be coming out of her shell... but be warned. FLUFF MOMENT! PURE, PURE FLUFF FOR YOU ALL IN THIS CHAPTER! I'M FEELING GIRLY! J SHORT, SHORT FLUFF FROM EPOV!_**

"Here lies Carlisle Masen. Dead man, Doctor and last seen naked with his penis in my mother." I recited the line to Bella who, in turn, giggled softly.

"Is that entirely appropriate for his grave stone?"

I pretended to muse over it for a second before shrugging. "No. But it'll do." Carefully I wrapped the scraps of soaked rum around her dainty hand. Her punch had knocked the wind out of me, then Tanya and finally Carlisle when I was unable to punch him for having his penis buried deep within my mother. It was a horrifying sight. "Thank you." I whispered. We had, after the fight, walked into the barn only to find my mother and Carlisle having sex on top of a hay stack. Had I fetched him just for my mother's sexual needs?

"For what?" She asked. Bella was less hostile since finding out of her sisters 'Love,' for my brother.

"Fighting Tanya for Alice." She scowled at me. "I know Jasper loves her very much. Punching Carlisle when he was... having sex with my mother," I shook my head, desperate to get the image of Carlisle's hips pounding roughly into my mother. "and for coming back." She smiled, a thing she didn't so enough. Blood pounded in my ears as I leaned in and gently kissed her lips. Pulling away so I could re-bandage her other hand. I could tell my face was flushed. "Who taught you how to fight like that, Bella?"

She stiffened but I proclaimed it to be nothing but my over-reactions. "My father, actually." She winched as I wound up the cloth to tight. I kissed her knuckles in re-assurance. What had she done with the old, hard Edward? "He was once a very skilled fighter. He taught me how to fight but a man, a different one, taught me how to deal with the pain." She glanced at me speculatively with her beautiful, brown eyes but darted them away when she caught my stare.

"Who was this... Other man?" I tried to quench the thirst of the jealous beast.

She laughed playfully and toyed with a chestnut curl. "He was a... Viking, I suppose. The things they did to him-" She shuddered. "But he was-is a good man. I still have faith he is alive." Her voice spoke with such passion and authority I would be surprised that she was a slave if I didn't know beforehand. Her voice, body and aura breathed leader ship. She would be an excellent queen for Culenzis.

"I hope so too, Bella. We're not all like..." I pointed to Emmett. "That you know?" Bella nodded. A soft light illuminating her face. She was beautiful. "I believe you promised me something, Bella." Bella narrowed her eyes slightly before a faint colour stained her cheeks. "A marriage of some sort?"

"I believe I did, Edward. I am not one to back out of a deal. Especially when struck with the most eligible man In Crom." I simply smiled and released her hand from myn. It was refreshing how soon she had warmed up to me... and a little troubling. How could someone -who not hours ago hated me- suddenly act like the perfect person I wanted her to be. I narrowed my eyes slightly, the dreaded hand clenching into a fist.

"What's wrong?" Bella began her work on my nose. Her light working hands bruising over the purple parts and tenderly drenching the wounds in rum.

"How can you -who not hours ago proclaimed to hate me - suddenly laugh with me as if I had known her my entire life? "

She briefly looked bemused herself. "You weren't like them. The others jeered for a fight but you remained aloof. I heard you never wanted to go on the plunder to Crom," She dipped her eyes down. Cautiously I tipped her head up with the tips of my fingers. "That you went for your mother. Not your own claims. I heard that although your an amazing fighter you do so with reluctance." Bella softly smiled and whipped away the last of the dirt from the wound. "How many have you killed?"

"More than I count but less so that I remember," I said softly.

"Where they deserving of the death you gave them?"

"Some were. Some weren't."

Bella frowned and picked at my wounds with more through strikes and swipes. She was beautiful when she worked.

"I am not a monster, Bella." I lowered my voice. "It's not as if I just get up and brush their faces from my mind. I can still see all of the blood and gory, but it is my duty to protect my country." She seemed content in the fact and continued to pick at the fresh wound. "But what of your last comment to Tanya, Bella?"

Bella remained in silent contemplation. She did not answer me. She placed down the clothes and cleared my hair from my eyebrows. Her delicate hands resting on my shoulders in a gentle manner. Her eyes, those soulful, beautiful eyes, flickered between mine before resting. "I have never met anyone quite like you, Cullen."

I smiled internally but composed a slight grimace. Gently, she rubbed her nose against mine, resting her cheek in the crook of my neck. "Is that a good thing?" I whispered softly.

"It's a very, very good thing." Tenderly, my lips met hers. Just a soft kiss that left my body on fire. The kiss didn't escalate for it didn't need to, the passion, all in that one soft kiss, was there.

Much like the lights in the Sky, Bella Swan rippled through my life. Tearing away the blackness and replacing it with colours of beauty and majesty. Her presence scattering anger and sadness away until it was nothing. Bursting into my life and irrevocably changing it for the better. I loved her. I loved her more than my dead black heart would grant me to let myself believe.

Was it too soon? Yes, but I loved her and no-one would take her away from me. It hurt a bit to love her. She was too beautiful, too fleeting and all to resenting against me in some form or another. But I needed her to stay with me. If she didn't I fear I would crumble and fall beneath myself.


End file.
